Bringing Sub-Inch Precision to the Irrigation Field: T-L Irrigation A GPS-guided T-L linear system.
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12 | IRRIGATION LEADER
Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. Neal Schlautman: I grew up on a diversified farm in northeastern Nebraska. I was always interested in doing things with my hands, including mechanical and electrical work. I spent a lot of time out in the shop. I went to the University of Nebraska and dual majored in mechanized agriculture, which was a program in the agricultural engineering department, and agricultural education. At the time I graduated, the agricultural economy was not very strong, and agricultural machinery companies were laying off instead of hiring, so I taught high school agriculture for 5 years. Then my wife and I had an opportunity to go to Iowa State University and work
on advanced degrees. While working on my PhD, I taught classes in the Ag Systems Technology Program in the Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering Department. As part of my PhD, I instituted and developed an agricultural electronics course. In 1993, I applied for a position in T-L Irrigation’s engineering department, and I have been here ever since. I took over the role of engineering manager in 2012, when the previous person in the position retired. Joshua Dill: Please tell us about T-L Irrigation. Neal Schlautman: The T in T-L stands for Leroy Thom, who graduated from the University of Nebraska’s agricultural engineering department in 1949 and founded the T-L Irrigation Company in
PHOTOS COURTESY OF T-L IRRIGATION.
-L Irrigation Company has been providing irrigation solutions since 1955. The family-owned company, based in Hastings, Nebraska, introduced its line of mechanized irrigation systems in the late 1960s. Since then, it has continued to innovate to make its products more reliable and easier to use. These days, that means enabling customers to irrigate their fields with extreme precision— moving their systems in straight lines with sub-inch accuracy using GPS or choosing which portions of a field to irrigate using a touchscreen display. In this interview, Neal Schlautman, the engineering manager at T-L Irrigation, speaks with Irrigation Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill about his company’s history, its current offerings, and the challenges of developing and pioneering new technologies in a competitive market.
