Irrigation Leader Washington Edition October 2018

Volume 9 Issue 9 Washington State Edition

SAM HULL OF AHTANUM IRRIGATION DISTRICT

October 2018

PHOTOS COURTESY OF

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CONTENTS OCTOBER 2018 Volume 9, Issue 9

Irrigation Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by

STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Tyler Young, Writer Parker Kenyon, Writer Nicole E. Venable, Graphic Designer SUBMISSIONS: Irrigation Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions.

However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request.

For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 or Irrigation.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

ADVERTISING: Irrigation Leader accepts one-quarter, half-page, and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or Irrigation.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

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A Conversation With Sam Hull of Ahtanum Irrigation District

Washington State Edition 5 Making Plans for

26 Reinventing the Wheel:

6 A Conversation With Sam Hull

30 A Revolution in 6 Months:

Ahtanum’s Future

By Kris Polly

of Ahtanum Irrigation District

10 Providing a Forum for Farmers

The Invention of the Tribine

34 Clearing Fields for Over

Nebraska Farmer

50 Years: Degelman Industries Rock Pickers

16 The Benifits of Chemigation:

IRRIGATED CROP

A Conversation With Bob Gills

THE INNOVATORS

20 Valley Irrigation: Leading

Innovation in Irrigation Around the Globe

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38 The Next Big Crop?

Studying Hemp in the Imperial Valley

Copyright © 2018 Water Strategies LLC. Irrigation Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Irrigation Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Irrigation Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Irrigation Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised. /IrrigationLeader

@IrrigationLeader

irrigationleadermagazine.com

COVER PHOTO: Sam Hull of Ahtanum Irrigation District.

Photo courtesy of Ahtanum Irrigation District.

IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF AHTANUM IRRIGATION DISTRICT.

Since 1859: Tyler Harris of

Irrigation Revolution’s Track Systems

CIRCULATION: Irrigation Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors. For address corrections or additions, please contact our office at Irrigation.Leader@waterstrategies.com.

Making Plans for Ahtanum’s Future

By Kris Polly

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htanum Irrigation District has big plans. The Ahtanum Valley–based district is unique in owning part of its own watershed, but a lack of storage means that it can’t take advantage of all the water it should receive. In our cover story, Sam Hull, a member of Ahtanum’s board of directors, explains the preparations the district is making to build a reservoir and a pressurized pipe system.

Much of the rest of this issue highlights Husker Harvest Days, the largest outdoor irrigation farm show in the United States. Every year, farmers and irrigation professionals from the United States and abroad come to Grand Island, Nebraska, to see the newest technological developments in their field. This month, Irrigation Leader gives you a look at the show’s history and the innovations that are still being showcased there every year.

Tyler Harris, the editor of Nebraska Farmer, recounts the history of his venerable magazine—which is older than the state of Nebraska—and how it helped found Husker Harvest Days in the late 1970s.

Greg Terjesen tells us about the Tribine—an immense combine–grain cart combination that was designed and built in only 6 months. John Cates of Irrigation Revolution explains his Xtra-X track system, which debuted at Husker

Harvest Days 2017. Ashley Anderson, Craig Bell, and Chris Righter tell us about Valley Irrigation’s software platforms, variable rate irrigation systems, and pivot drive systems. We also speak with Bob Gills of Agri-Inject about the potential for expanding the use of chemigation, and we profile Degelman Industries’ line of rock pickers.

Finally, we talk to Jim Wood of the Imperial Valley Conservation Research Center about a nontechnological kind of innovation: the potential large-scale development of hemp in the Imperial Valley of California.

Whether it takes the form of iron in the field or fields of hemp, innovation continues to change the face of irrigation across the United States. We hope that this issue of Irrigation Leader helps you keep up to date on the newest developments in the irrigation industry. IL Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at Kris.Polly@waterstrategies.com.

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A Conversation With Sam Hull of Ahtanum Irrigation District Sam Hull of Atanum Irrigation District’s board of directors.

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htanum Irrigation District encompasses approximately 10,300 acres in the Ahtanum Valley of Washington State and has a history dating back to 1852. Sam Hull is a member of Ahtanum Irrigation District’s board of directors.

In this conversation with Joshua Dill, the managing editor of Irrigation Leader, Mr. Hull discusses his district’s history and unique features and its ambitions to create a new reservoir and a pressurized delivery system.

Joshua Dill: How many acres does your district service?

Joshua Dill: Please tell our readers about your background and how you ended up working for Ahtanum Irrigation District.

Sam Hull: Our delivery system is creek channels and open, unlined canals or ditches. We have three creeks, two of which act as diversion canals during the irrigation season, along with five small ditches. All our diversions from the main stream of Ahtanum Creek have fish screens. Everybody pumps from the canals or creeks, and the majority of our people irrigate with hand lines or wheel lines.

Joshua Dill: Would you please tell our readers about Ahtanum Irrigation District and its history?

Sam Hull: Ahtanum Irrigation District was formed in 1918. Before that, it was just private landowners who all had their own water rights. The earliest water right has a priority date of 1852. In 1918, those landowners got together and formed the district.

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Joshua Dill: What are the primary methods of irrigation in your district?

Joshua Dill: What other features does your district have?

Sam Hull: The district owns quite a bit of land up in the Ahtanum watershed. There are not many districts that have their own little watershed. We manage the land for grazing and for snowpack retention. The watershed is timberland, and it is in the 5,000–7,000foot elevation range. That is some of the late snowpack.

We have logged quite a bit of timber up in that area.

Previously, we were on a sustainable harvest program with the timber, but now that the mills have left this area, it has become difficult for us to market it.

IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF AHTANUM IRRIGATION DISTRICT.

Sam Hull: In 1892, my great-grandfather moved into the Ahtanum Valley from Wisconsin. He was a teacher at the Woodcock Academy of Higher Education in Ahtanum, Washington. He also started a farm here. My family has continued to farm up to the present day. Water has always been important to us, and so when the opportunity to be on the board of directors at Ahtanum Irrigation District came up about 25 years ago, I volunteered to run for the position and have been on the board ever since.

Sam Hull: We deliver water to approximately 5,300 acres. Our only storage is snowpack. We are not a Reclamation district.

Joshua Dill: What are the most significant issues your district is facing?

Sam Hull: The most significant issue is that we have no storage. That means that when the snowpack in the Ahtanum watershed is gone, we are out of water. When that happens varies depending on how much moisture we get each winter. There have been a few years in which we have had very little water to divert even at the beginning of the season. Our season starts on April 15, and even on a good year, we have to shut off at midnight on July 10. That is by court mandate.

Joshua Dill: Are you developing plans to address that lack of storage?

That would allow us to use both natural runoff and storage for irrigation. The project would help three different irrigation districts: the John Cox Ditch Company, Ahtanum Irrigation District, and the Wapato Irrigation Project, which is on the Yakama Indian Reservation. It could also help out with flood control and fire protection.

If we could keep Bachelor and Hatton Creeks primed, it would help keep the aquifer in the valley charged. Unfortunately, approximately 17 miles of Bachelor and Hatton Creeks, which provide habitat for fish and wildlife, are currently dry after July 10 each year by court mandate.

“To get everyone pulling in the same direction at the same time for a common cause has been extremely challenging.”

Joshua Dill: What are the main challenges that you are facing in bringing this reservoir project to fruition?

PHOT0 COURTESY OF AHTANUM IRRIGATION DISTRICT.

Sam Hull: Yes. Ahtanum Irrigation Sam Hull: There are multiple government District has been working on storage bureaucracies involved, as well as — SAM HULL since the 1960s. After completing a politicians and landowners. To get Comprehensive Water Conservation everyone pulling in the same direction at Plan under Referendum 38, in the 1990s we came up with a the same time for a common cause has been extremely great idea for an off-stream storage project. The idea was to challenging. Still, we have been able to complete build a reservoir, the Pine Hollow Reservoir, which would a constructability study, a watershed assessment, hold roughly 25,000 acre-feet. This would be off-stream a watershed restoration program, a programmatic storage: The water would go down a dry canyon. We could environmental impact statement (EIS), a construction divert water in the late fall and early spring when the water EIS, an economic analysis, and a reconnaissance-level flow is above its minimum and send it to the reservoir. engineering study for hydroelectric addition.

Three members of Ahtanum's board of directors: Sam Hull, Russ Bohannon, and Mark Herke. Their families have been in the Ahtanum Valley since 1892, 1928, and 1871, respectively.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

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Sam Hull, with the north fork of the Ahtanum watershed in the background.

Joshua Dill: Is there a time frame for the reservoir project?

Sam Hull: That is pretty much open ended. When we started working on the storage project, we were hopeful that it would be completed by now, but unfortunately, that has not happened. Getting all the parties in agreement has been a major roadblock. When you have a project of this size that involves this many different entities, it takes a lot of time.

Joshua Dill: You mentioned that your season is restricted to a specific time of the year. Is that common for irrigation districts in your area?

Joshua Dill: Have there been any changes in your district in recent years in terms of land usage and urbanization?

Sam Hull: Yes. We are about 10 miles southwest of the city of Yakima, and there just like everywhere else, the population keeps expanding. People are moving farther and farther out into the country. There are lots of housing developments in this area now. I wouldn’t be able to guess what percentage of our district If you are in the irrigation is urbanized, but I can tell you that it is growing. business, water is

“

important. It needs to be managed as well as possible.”

Joshua Dill: What is your irrigation district’s vision for the future?

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IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF AHTANUM IRRIGATION DISTRICT.

Sam Hull: That is actually a unique feature Sam Hull: Along with the reservoir, —SAM HULL of Ahtanum Irrigation District. Ever since we would like to put in a pressurized people moved into the valley and started water delivery system, but we can’t do irrigating in the late 1800s, there has not been enough that without the reservoir. That would make delivery for water for everyone. We have been through multiple court everyone significantly more efficient. There is a tremendous hearings and adjudications, and to make a long story short, amount of loss through evaporation and ground seepage in the north-side water users ended up with 75 percent of these open canals. the water out of the Ahtanum Creek until July 10, while the south-side water users, who are on the Yakama Indian Joshua Dill: What is your message to our readers?

Reservation under the Wapato Irrigation Project, get 25 percent. After July 10, the south side gets 100 percent Sam Hull: If you are in the irrigation business, water is of the water, less what is needed for fish. It may sound like important. It needs to be managed as well as possible. the south-side users are getting a good deal, but by that Being in a position where there is a lack of water, or even time of year there is very little water anyway. Some years, no water, is a real challenge for our district. IL they end up getting 100 percent of nothing. That ruling ended up not helping anyone. The only way this problem is For more information about Ahtanum Irrigation District, going to be solved is to put in a reservoir. contact George Marshall at georgem@ahtanum.net.

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Providing a Forum for Farmers Since 1859: Tyler Harris of Nebraska Farmer

Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island, Nebraska.

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ebraska Farmer magazine has provided a forum for farmers to ask questions and share insight into their experiences since 1859—before Nebraska was even a state. In the 1980s, Nebraska Farmer was one of the founders of the Husker Harvest Days show in Grand Island, Nebraska, now the nation’s biggest outdoor irrigation show.

Since 2015, Tyler Harris has been the editor of Nebraska Farmer. In this interview with Irrigation Leader Editor-inChief Kris Polly, he discusses the origins of Nebraska Farmer and how Husker Harvest Days has grown over the last three decades to become one of the ag world’s indispensible trade shows.

Kris Polly: Please tell us about your background.

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IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF CURT ARENS.

Tyler Harris: I grew up on a farm in southwest Iowa, in Union County. If you take Highway 34 out of Lincoln and drive about 2 hours and 45 minutes east, you will come up on the outskirts of my home place along the highway. I took a different approach to agricultural journalism. I went to the University of Iowa to pursue a journalism degree. As I was

covering local politics and the crime beat, I found myself pulling more toward covering rural and agricultural issues.

My mentor in college really encouraged me to pursue that route further. In my senior year, I worked for a small-town paper south of Iowa City covering agriculture, and I thought to myself, “Why can’t I do this full time?” Before I graduated from the University of Iowa in spring 2012, I interviewed for an internship with Wallaces Farmer, which I grew up with—it is one of the biggest ag publications in the country. They were looking for an intern because Iowa was hosting the Farm Progress Show that year. The summer that I was the intern, I was able to cover a wide variety of ag-related issues, including my first Husker Harvest Days. They hired me on full time after the internship. Eventually, in October 2012, I moved down to Kansas City, where I lived and worked for about 2½ years covering agriculture in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa.

While I was out in Kansas covering the Great Plains and irrigation in the western reaches of the state, I fell in love with it. I really enjoyed getting to be in a totally different environment from what I grew up in. Kansas is a lot like

Nebraska in that you can drive from east to west and see a massive change in elevation, rainfall, and even topography. I really gravitated toward that. In 2015, when Don McCabe retired, I was asked to take his place at Nebraska Farmer, and I have been here ever since.

PHOTO USED BY PERMISSION, COPYRIGHT FARM PROGRESS 2018.

Kris Polly: Would you please tell our readers about Nebraska Farmer magazine?

prominent throughout the state. As time went on, center pivots and sprinkler systems caught on. In the 1970s, when we had the first Husker Harvest Days, there was only one gravityirrigation system at the show; it was mostly center pivots and lateral moves. Around that time, we were promoting Husker Harvest Days, and there was a big focus in the magazine on the advantages for farmers of irrigation scheduling with pivots and scheduling devices.

Kris Polly: Husker Harvest Days began in Tyler Harris: Our first issue came out in 1978. Can you talk about the origins of the 1859, 8 years before Nebraska was even event and how the magazine has promoted it? a state. I have looked back at some of our issues from that early time and into Tyler Harris: The idea behind Husker Harvest the 1870s. Robert Furnas, who went on Days was to have a show where farmers and to be the second governor of Nebraska, ranchers could witness the latest technology founded the magazine. They handed in action. The group that founded it included out the first issues on the streets of the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce, Nebraska City and Brownville in the Agricultural Institute of Nebraska, private 1859, with the intent of giving the industry groups, and Nebraska Farmer. The producers in the Nebraska Territory creators of the event were heavily influenced a voice and a forum to share their Tyler Harris, editor of by the Farm Progress Show, which is one experiences, pose questions, and Nebraska Farmer magazine. of the biggest farm shows in the United figure out what they would be able to States. Today, Husker Harvest Days is the accomplish. I found that interesting. largest outdoor irrigation farm show in the The issues were all content and were United States. Every year, Nebraska Farmer publishes a Husker around 16 pages long.

It was a huge territory at the time, and there was only Harvest Days show program. a population of about 25,000 people. Back then, Nebraska The Husker Harvest Days show site was in preparation for City was the most populated settlement in the territory, with about a year before the first show. Originally the Cornhusker around 1,900 people. That is where the agricultural hotbed Ammunition Plant, the site had previously been leased by was; things spread out from there. Furnas’s idea was to take the U.S. Army to a cattle producer. Crews broke ground in a publication from this agricultural epicenter and turn it into 1977, and the first show got going in 1978. a forum for people to discuss their experiences and promote Looking back at pictures of the first show, you can see agriculture in the region. how different things were from today. As time went on, the It was probably pretty obvious that Nebraska was going irrigation systems changed. Even in the mid-1980s, we still to become an agricultural powerhouse, but I don’t think had a gated-pipe system, but they were doing things with everyone saw the irrigation potential early on. In some of the it at that point. There were about 10 irrigation systems, and early issues, you see a perception that rain follows the plow.

9 of them were sprinkler. There was one gated-pipe system The 1880s in particular was a period of abundant rainfall. I that they called a cablegation system, which was a new twist think the first irrigation in the area was done in the 1860s by on automated gated-pipe irrigation. It had a plug with an a farmer named John Burke around North Platte. He used attached cable that was put into the pipeline and forced down irrigation to grow vegetables and corn for the soldiers at Fort the pipeline with water. The other end of the cable was hooked McPherson. As time went on, irrigation really started to catch to a braking wheel that controlled its speed. All the gates on on. That is something that was covered in the magazine. the pipeline would be open, but water would only come out of Today, we still welcome editorial letters from farmers, the 30 to 40 gates directly behind the plug. With that, and we try to run a monthly comment column where we they were still able to control the amount of water that get an alumnus of the Nebraska Leadership Education/ was going on different soil types, almost like an early version Action Development (LEAD) program to comment on of speed control. a development in the ag industry. A lot of our content is generated by Curt Arens, the regional field editor, and me.

Kris Polly: How many people came to the first Husker Harvest Once in a while, we will pick up articles from extension Days? educators or commission an article on a timely topic. In 1956, we started to publish an annual irrigation issue every Tyler Harris: I have heard a bunch of different numbers from March, which continued until the mid-1980s. Back in the people who were involved in the early stages of the show, but 1950s, gated-pipe systems and siphon tubes were pretty finding accurate numbers has been really hard. There were a lot IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

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of vendors there—over 200, including those in the Diversified Industries Tent. Some vendors who were at the original show are still coming today. Usually, we have around 600 vendors in any given year. Today, there are typically around 100,000 people in attendance every year.

What is really interesting is that during the early years of the show, if we needed a piece of equipment to get the show off the ground, vendors would provide equipment in exchange for lot space or advertising space. That happened even in the early days of Nebraska Farmer—equipment companies would provide equipment in exchange for advertising space. The same thing happened at the beginnings of Husker Harvest Days.

That strategy might not work now—everything is very well accounted for. Back then, that was part of the mentality; it was a handshake deal.

Kris Polly: Did the magazine also provide advertising for people who were going to participate in the show?

Tyler Harris: Yes, that is how it usually works. It works as value added to advertising—if vendors spend a certain dollar amount, they qualify for free lot space. Of course, vendors can also buy lot space. In the beginning, vendors could only get lot space through trade advertising.

Kris Polly: Would you please talk about how the infrastructure of the show has changed?

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF TYLER HARRIS.

Tyler Harris: Definitely. My first time at the Husker Harvest Days was in 2012. I remember that being one of the few years when part of the show was canceled. It was a dry year, and it was very windy at the show. There was a ton of dust stirring up. In 2014, we had really excessive rainfall. I can remember seeing pickups coming out of the parking lot that were so heavily caked in mud that you could not tell what color they were. In 2015, we put some gravel lanes in the parking lot, which was a big help. We have not had a major rain event at the show since 2014, but we would like to be prepared. If you ask people about their Husker Harvest Days memories, they will always tell you about how the equipment has changed over the years, particularly in size and in the technology used on board—but also which years we had bad weather.

Hopefully, when we have infrastructure improvements, it will reduce the likelihood that we will have to cancel a day of the show.

This last year, right around the time that the 40th anniversary program came out, we announced $7.5 million in renovations to the show site. The Grand Island community and private interests stepped up in big way to help contribute. That includes 5½ miles of newly paved streets, concrete about 7 inches deep, new electrical wiring, and an upgraded storm water–retention pond. The operations manager, Roger Luebbe, worked very hard to almost make water flow uphill for all those years.

There used to be a crown in the middle of those streets, and IRRIGATION LEADER

the water would flow off to the side. There were some years when it was not a problem, but in some years, like 2014, we had to use little bridges to get into the lots. Now, that is not a problem anymore; we have these newly paved streets with an inverted crown, and 16 feet of grade change for drainage. The new system could handle a 4-inch rainfall.

Kris Polly: What is your favorite part of Husker Harvest Days?

Tyler Harris: One of my favorite parts of the show is getting to see all the new irrigation tech. That is one of the reasons I love working with Nebraska agriculture so much. In 2013, we put in the first subsurface drip irrigation system. That year, coming off the 2012 drought, there was a huge emphasis on drip irrigation. Whether that is economically feasible for farmers is up to them. That was one of the first big memorable things that year: visiting with farmers who had installed a dripirrigation system on their farms and then visiting with the vendors about what they were doing to expand their presence in the Great Plains region. At that point, drip irrigation was only prominent in California and on higher-value crops.

Nebraska is one of the few states west of the Missouri River that has seen an increase of irrigated acres in the last 5–10 years. A lot of the expansion of irrigated acres has been in the eastern and southeastern states.

Irrigation is a fascinating thing to work with. It’s been true historically, and it is still true today: Irrigation is one of the best ways to improve yields on your land.

Kris Polly: What should our readers know about Husker Harvest Days?

Tyler Harris: My message would be that it is a learning experience. I try to learn about new things every year when I go. It is always great to go out and see the iron in the field; that is what everyone loves and it is really fun to see. My favorite thing, which I hope other people enjoy as well, is getting to visit with some of the tech companies, whether it is a new company or an older company that is putting a new twist on some aspect of technology. In Nebraska, there has been a pretty big push to take a checkbook-math approach to measuring the inputs and outputs of water in a given watershed, and the show highlights some of the tools that help do that. That also translates to the education side. People are learning about new ways to make decisions on the farm. There are a number of organizations that will provide an education opportunity to anyone visiting their booth and to anyone who sees a presentation at the hospitality booth. There is always an opportunity to see the latest tech and learn something new. IL Tyler Harris can be contacted at

Tyler.Harris@farmprogress.com.

An aerial view of Husker Harvest Days.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

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The New Zealand tour group at Agri-Inject facility in Yuma.

The Benefits of Chemigation: A Conversation With Bob Gills

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hemigation—sometimes also known as fertigation—is the use of irrigation systems for the controlled and efficient application of fertilizer, herbicides, and other chemicals to crop fields or pasture. By using chemigation methods, farmers can both save money and avoid applying excess chemicals, which can leach into the soil. In this interview, Bob Gills, the director of global sales for Agri-Inject, the leading player in the chemigation market, speaks with Kris Polly, the editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader, about the benefits of chemigation and why the method is well suited to markets like New Zealand, where it is not yet widespread.

Kris Polly: Please tell us about your company, Agri-Inject.

Bob Gills: Agri-Inject is the worldwide leader of chemical injection systems for the agricultural market. A large portion of our business is in center-pivot irrigation, but we’re also used in subsurface drip and in greenhouses.

And we’re not limited to just agriculture. We are also very popular in golf and athletic field chemical injection.

Bob Gills: Yes. You often hear the term fertigation, which refers to injecting liquid fertilizer through an irrigation

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Kris Polly: Recently you participated in a tour with a group of New Zealanders. Can you tell us about your role in that tour and your time with the participants?

Bob Gills: Earlier this year, I was in New Zealand for business, and while I was visiting a dealer that we’d signed up at the end of 2017, he mentioned an upcoming fertigation master class put together by IrrigationNZ. I decided to attend. That gave me the opportunity to meet Andrew Curtis and Steve Breneger from IrrigationNZ. IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BOB GILLS.

Kris Polly: So your technology allows fertilizers and herbicides to be added directly into the irrigation water of irrigation systems.

system. But the more encompassing term is chemigation, which refers to the accurate and timely injection of fertilizer, herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides through an irrigation system. The terms are often used interchangeably.

Chemigation—and fertigation specifically—has been around for a while, and we’ve been in business since 1983, designing, selling, and supporting our fertilizerinjection systems. The market has been growing over time.

Farmers are educating themselves on how and when a plant uses fertilizer, and they better understand how to apply fertilizer to minimize plant stress and maximize yield. The more farmers realize how an injection system can improve the overall management of their farm, the more attracted they are to our technology. We strive to be the fertigation thought leader; our solutions are now an integral part of the precision agriculture market.

Josh Krautkramer, Agri-Inject's director of R&D, presents the ReflexConnect fertigation system to the tour group.

I was asked to make a presentation on fertigation and our practices in the United States. In my presentation, I discussed the value of fertigation from both a business and an environmental point of view. That caught the ears of a number of farmers and dealers, including Pāmu Farms, the largest state-owned farm in New Zealand. The whole thing developed from there, and it eventually led to my working on an itinerary for a U.S. visit by three New Zealanders, with it all culminating in a visit to Husker Harvest Days.

Simultaneously, Andrew coordinated a tour with a much larger group, and we were able to get a combined group of 30 New Zealanders to converge at Agri-Inject headquarters in Yuma, Colorado, where they all spent the day learning about the tools we provide for chemigation and fertigation in the United States and the world and the value derived from reducing input costs, improving crop yield, and addressing environmental concerns.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BOB GILLS.

Kris Polly: Based on your experience, what are some of the differences between New Zealand and the United States as far as the use of chemigation?

Bob Gills: Chemigation isn’t used very much in New Zealand. In fact, I spoke to one farmer who, when he had to apply chemicals late in season, hired a helicopter to drop chemicals over 60 irrigated acres. For the cost of one application, he could have paid for a system using known and proven chemigation methods. The other thing we discovered was that in New Zealand, center pivots are quite commonly used for dairy pasture irrigation, but granular fertilizer is applied using traditional methods. This is not very efficient, and it creates environmental issues. There is a need to measure and control the amount of fertilizer applied to the pastures. When too much is used, excess nitrogen is taken up and stored in the grass and consumed by the cows. The IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

cows then release these nitrates back into the ground through urination, adding nitrates to the groundwater. To address this problem, we’re helping them with the just-in-time delivery of fertilizer. The objective of fertigation is to give the plant what it needs when it needs it—no more, no less. Our fertigation technology, in this case coupled with the centerpivot irrigation system, is the type of precision agriculture that today’s farmers need. It’s an all-around win for everyone involved, reducing input costs through the more–efficient use of nitrogen, improving crop yields, and reducing the contamination of groundwater by waste.

Kris Polly: It sounds like the New Zealanders were interested in what you had to show them in the United States.

Bob Gills: They were, and that’s why they were so interested in spending the day with us in Yuma. We’re beginning to develop some great relationships with farmers, dealers, IrrigationNZ, and the New Zealand irrigation schemes.

The beauty of it is that fertigation affects two very important areas. First, the business: The farmer spends less on crop inputs without sacrificing yield, and in many cases even improving it. Second, the environment: Nitrogen use is much more targeted and controlled. The same environmental issues are found here in the United States—in Nebraska or out on the Delmarva [Delaware, Maryland, Virginia] Peninsula, for example. If the amount of nitrogen put down is more effectively managed, giving the plant what it needs when it needs it, then leaching and evaporation will be minimized, and everybody wins. IL Bob Gills is the director of global sales at Agri-Inject. He can be reached at bgills@agri-inject.com.

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INNOVATORS

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THE INNOVATORS

Valley Irrigation: Leading Innovation in Irrigation Around the Globe

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alley Irrigation is a global leader in mechanized irrigation equipment and the industry’s authority on advancing irrigation technologies. Worldwide, Valley irrigates approximately 25 million acres. In addition to conserving water, saving time, reducing input costs and increasing yields, Valley equipment can be remotely controlled from any location in the world.

Innovation is a bedrock principle of the company. In this interview, Irrigation Leader Writer Parker Kenyon speaks with Ashley Anderson, Valley’s product manager for software products, Craig Bell, the company’s production manager for controls and variable rate irrigation, and Chris Righter, the production manager for structure and drive systems, about Valley’s innovative products.

Ashley Anderson: My professional background is primarily in product management pertaining to software products, both within the agriculture industry and outside the agriculture industry. I have been doing that for more than 5 years now.

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Chris Righter: The majority of my background has been in manufacturing, about 25 years or so, both in engineering and in product development and support.

Specifically, I have been in the ag industry for 21/2 years. Previous to that, I was in a variety of other manufacturing industries in engineering, projectmanagement, and business-management roles.

Parker Kenyon: Would you please give a brief profile of Valley and some of the services that the company provides?

Chris Righter: Valley is the global leader in center-pivot and linear irrigation equipment and in smart-irrigation technology. Worldwide, we irrigate about 25 million IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF VALLEY IRRIGATION.

Parker Kenyon: Would you each tell me about your professional background?

Craig Bell: My background is in website design, user experience design and IT. I was originally involved with the BaseStation product here at Valley on the software development side. Over the last few years, I have transitioned over to electronic controls and variable rate irrigation (VRI). I have been in technology for a little over 10 years.

THE INNOVATORS

A Valley irrigation structure.

acres. People all over the globe use Valley equipment to help conserve water, save time, reduce costs, and improve yields. This goes back to about 1954, when the first center pivots were being patented and produced

by Valley. Our parent company, Valmont Industries, of which we are a division, currently has $2.7 billion in net sales, operates on six continents, and has facilities in 23 countries. There are 21 distinct Valmont brands. Valley Irrigation also has a worldwide presence, particularly in South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, and Europe.

Parker Kenyon: Would you each highlight some technologies or innovations in your specific product divisions? Ashley Anderson: Valley is focused on technology from all angles, from software to mechanical and electrical technology. Our recent advances on the software side have been in irrigation scheduling, which helps growers apply water more efficiently. We have recently launched a solution called Valley Scheduling in North America. It is a software platform that ultimately takes a number of measured or modeled data points and uses that information to calculate a specific irrigation recommendation amount for that field.

Parker Kenyon: Is that scheduling service something a farmer can set up on his or her own?

Ashley Anderson: We prefer that they go through their Valley dealer. We can also include their local agronomist, or whomever they are working with on water conservation. That person would be their expert and could provide support in setting up the application, monitoring the data throughout the growing season, and calibrating or adjusting the application to that grower’s needs. The scheduling product provides precise recommendations as to when and where you need the water. That helps avoid over- or underwatering, and helps the grower use water more efficiently. It also helps to increase long-term yield and makes chemical applications more productive by making sure the grower IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

is not washing away chemicals or providing water at the wrong times.

Craig Bell: On the hardware side, we have the Valley ICON series of control panels, which includes the ICON1, ICON5, ICON10, and ICONX models.

Each one has our ICON Link module built into it, which provides cellular telemetry through our AgSense smart irrigation solution. Valley offers a total solution ecosystem for growers. The integration of our hardware and software means that we provide full solution services that allow growers to connect pumps, soil-moisture sensors, pivots, and other irrigation equipment to our cloud-based platform.

The next thing to talk about is Valley VRI, both on the software and the hardware side. This fall, at all the trade shows, we have been featuring our updated VRI web application, which works with our field-proven VRI-iS hardware that has been available for the last several seasons. Growers can use the Valley VRI software to create prescriptions and send them to the machine via AgSense. Growers can import shape files that they have received from their agronomist or another third party. Valley offers VRI Speed Control and VRI Zone Control, and then we have individual sprinkler (IS) systems, which give the grower individual control of each sprinkler on the machine.

Chris Righter: Valley is not only committed to bringing technology to irrigators but also to advancing the traditional parts of irrigation: the structure and the drivetrain. In 2017, we launched the X-Tec Drive system.

This is a revolutionary drive system that is capable of going twice as fast as anything else on the market. We do that by combining a switched-reluctance DC drive with a patented alignment system that uses a proximity switch to continually adjust alignment. This results in laser straightness as the pivot makes its circle. This new development can cut in half the time needed for a pivot to make a circle. A traditional quarter-mile machine, at its fastest speed, normally would take around 8 hours; we have gotten that down to 4 hours with the X-Tec system, depending on tire radius and pivot size.

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THE INNOVATORS

The X-Tec drive system.

Ashley Anderson

Craig Bell

Chris Righter

Product Manager, Software Products.

Product Manager, Controls and Variable Rate Irrigation.

Product Manager, Structure and Drive Systems.

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Parker Kenyon: Is the X-Tec Drive system something that a farmer would have to get a completely new pivot to use, or can it be installed on existing pivots?

Chris Righter: It can be easily retrofitted to existing pivots.

Our initial launch was specifically for standard-length pivots. At that time, you would have had to either install a new pivot or retrofit the entire pivot with X-Tec. We have recently released a hybrid technology. As you can imagine, as a pivot is making a circle, the inner towers never have to go as fast as the outer towers. They are not covering as great a distance. We have now released the X-Tec Hybrid configuration, which allows growers to combine their standard motors on the inner towers with X-Tec on the outside towers. It gives them all the speed benefits at a IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF VALLEY IRRIGATION.

We are finding technology provides multiple benefits.

First, it allows for a greater range in the depth of water that can be put down in a field; as you go faster, you are able to put down smaller amounts of water. Some irrigators use it to cool their crops: In July and August, when you are starting to get those 90- and 100-plusdegree days, irrigators can make a late pass in the afternoon and put down a light amount of water, which brings the temperature of their crops down and can improve crop health. They can also use it to get better precision and control of their chemigation and fertigation when they run it through the pivots. It allows the growers to apply their chemicals in half the time. Growers can use it during the off-season when there are periods of high wind to run a light coating of water to protect their topsoil and hold it in place.

One of the benefits of the DC motor is that it gets full torque, depending on field conditions, at the complete range of speed. From standard speed all the way up to high speed, it continues to apply all the power needed for rough field conditions, slopes, furrows, and mounds. Compare that to competitors’ products that use a standard AC motor and a variable-frequency drive—the issue with those drives is that they see a drop-off in torque as you get to the high and low ends of the speed range. Then they are not capable of handling all the demands and conditions that farm fields can create.

THE INNOVATORS

One of valley's remote managment modules in action.

lower introductory cost. One thing growers won’t get with X-Tec is the start/stop of traditional electric pivot motors: X-Tec is a constant-move machine. Those inner towers remain start/stop, while the outer towers would be constant move. Moving forward, we are looking to move our product to longer machines and also to linear or lateralmove machines.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF VALLEY IRRIGATION.

Parker Kenyon: Would you each please describe your vision for the future of your product area?

Ashley Anderson: From the software standpoint, the future vision is continuing to provide value-added services and working toward a technology ecosystem that benefits growers in more ways than just precision irrigation. By not only incorporating products manufactured by Valley, but by leveraging third-party services and other advances in ag technology, we hope to deliver complete solutions for growers based on their needs.

Craig Bell: From the hardware and VRI side, the main focus is continuing to innovate. I think that is key across all our product areas. We are going to continue to go out and get vast amounts of customer information to make sure that we understand what our growers are asking for and then get that into our development cycle. As a product IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

management and product-development group, we want to make sure that we are providing customers what they ask for, not telling them what they need.

Chris Righter: To echo and expand on that, the structure and drive side is going to continue to track new technological developments in both mechanical and structural engineering so that we can continue to improve and keep the Valley structure the benchmark for the industry. The Valley structure has the reputation around the industry of being the strongest, most durable, and longest lasting. We are going to keep it in that position. We want to apply new technologies and new ideas to ensure that we continue to provide the best value in a pivot to our growers.

Parker Kenyon: What is your message to our readership?

Chris Righter: I think that our message would be that Valley is going to continue to innovate; continue to listen to their needs; and continue to supply products that help them better irrigate to produce higher yields, conserve water, and save time. IL For more information, visit Valley Irrigation’s website at valleyirrigation.com.

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THE INNOVATORS

Reinventing the Wheel: Irrigation Revolution’s Track Systems

The Xtra-X track system.

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benefits to farmers, and Irrigation Revolution’s vision for the future.

Kris Polly: How long have you been in business?

John Cates: I have been in business for 2 years, but I have been designing, developing, and testing for 5.

Kris Polly: Could you please tell us about your professional background?

John Cates: When I graduated from high school, I traveled all over the United States servicing ethanol plants in the maintenance department. I did that for about 2 years, and then, for the next 4 years I worked in manufacturing for a company that made parts for companies like Kawasaki, Case, and New Holland. I IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN CATES.

rrigators around the United States spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours every year dealing with problems with the tires on their pivot systems. Traditional tire systems are prone to flats, create large ruts in the ground, and can be costly to maintain. Irrigation Revolution has created an effective solution to the problems of traditional tire systems with their Xtra-X track system, which was first displayed at Husker Harvest Days 2017. The Xtra-X system is designed to reduce the ground pressure of a pivot to significantly reduce the size of ruts created. Results show that the Xtra-X system reduces rut size by 80 percent.

Irrigation Revolution is looking to help farmers all around the United States increase the efficiency of their pivot systems while reducing operational costs. Irrigation Leader’s editor-inchief, Kris Polly, spoke with the founder and CEO of Irrigation Revolution, John Cates, about his Xtra-X track system, its

THE INNOVATORS then worked a stint at New Holland manufacturing in Grand Island, Nebraska. For the last 8 years, I have been an agronomist for an ag research company.

Kris Polly: You are familiar with manufacturing and agriculture?

John Cates: Absolutely.

Kris Polly: Would you please tell us where your company is located?

John Cates: I am out of Giltner, Nebraska, which is a small town that is pretty big in the agriculture industry. It only has 400 people, but it has four companies that ship agricultural products all around the world.

Kris Polly: Would you please tell us about how you came up with the idea for your track?

John Cates: For a long time, I wanted to be an innovator and find new and better ways to do something. I actually have lots of product ideas that I want to do, and I had gotten to a point financially where I had to pick one and run with it. Corner machines are much bigger here in Nebraska than they are anywhere else, I would say. The majority of swing towers are in Nebraska, and I knew that there were no really great options for guys who were having problems with their corner machines getting stuck or cutting deep ruts. I set out to develop a solution that was not only practical but affordable.

Kris Polly: What is the design life of your product?

John Cates: Every situation is different. When I started out, I did not know that anyone else made tracks for pivots. The first one I built was pretty similar to some of the other ones that you see out on the market. I ran into a guy who had tracks on a sideby-side, and when I told him that I was developing some for pivots, he informed me that Lindsay Manufacturing had a couple out. That was the first time that I realized someone else had a similar product. I did a patent search and found theirs. Mine was pretty similar to their design, so I was not sure I could get around their patent.

So then I reinvented the whole wheel. I started from scratch and came up with what I thought was a great plan and went from there. I talked to some guys from the major pivot companies—engineers, marketing managers, and dealerxs—and learned that they were only getting an average of 3–6 years of life out of their tracks. That is one of the big advantages IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

to mine: It can be rebuilt. If something goes wrong, you can take it apart in the field and fix it. To answer your question, I would say it will go 5–10 years before you have to replace anything, and the overall track life is going to be in the 15-year range. My aim was to make something you can repair with basic hand tools in the field, on the machine, keeping it really simple.

Farmers like to fix their own things; they do not like to spend that money if they do not have to. I keep the farmer mentality in my head as I make things; I try to make things that farmers would appreciate. It is the little details that make the difference.

Kris Polly: Is your product galvanized?

John Cates: Absolutely.

Kris Polly: Do you use standard off-the-shelf bearings and parts that are readily accessible?

John Cates: For the most part, yes. Obviously, the track is not—the track is my design—but the bearings are readily accessible. I would not have to ship those out, but I have been telling farmers that if a bearing does go out, I am going to sell them my bearings at cost because I do not want them putting cheap bearings in. Your reputation is everything. If the bearing goes out and the farmer replaces it with a cheap bearing, and that one goes out, they are going to start saying, “What’s going on?”

Kris Polly: So your track is patented?

John Cates: Yes, it is.

Kris Polly: How long has your track been on the market?

John Cates: I have only been selling them commercially for 21/2 years. I have sold to some farmers locally who have been running the tracks for 5 years, but I have only been pushing the sales really hard the past 21/2 years.

Kris Polly: Are your tracks primarily for corner systems or the entire pivot system?

John Cates: I have farmers who are buying them for the whole pivot and farmers who are buying them for the corner machines. That is the nice thing about the design: It is equivalent to a tire in terms of speed. You don’t have to change a bunch of things. Say you have a problem on tower 3 or tower 4—you can directreplace the tire and not have to change out the center drive or gearboxes.

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THE INNOVATORS Kris Polly: You can have a mix of tires and tracks?

John Cates: Yes. Kris Polly: What are the advantages of a track over a tire?

John Cates: Tracks put less strain on things. They are constant drive, unlike a tire. If a tire gets stuck, it will sit there and only grab every once in a while—that doesn’t happen with a track. Using tracks also means your machine requires less maintenance, because tracks put less strain on the gearboxes and the center drive than tires do. Just one of my tracks is equal to eight 11.2-24 tires and almost four 11.2-38 tires as far as surface area on the ground—it has over 750 square inches of ground contact. On the standard tower, the pressure is less than two pounds per square inch.

John Cates with the Xtra-X track system.

have that same vision: to blossom gradually every year.

I set numbers that I want to build every year. It takes a lot of money to do this, and you have to rein in a little bit and not get too far ahead of yourself. I would rather keep the numbers low for now and make sure the product that is leaving is absolutely perfect. Your reputation is everything: No one hears about a good product, but everyone hears about a bad one. I want to get to the point where I can build mass quantities every single year. IL You can reach John Cates at Jcates2424@gmail.com or at (308) 370-7438.

Kris Polly: Do your tracks create ruts?

John Cates: We are seeing an 80 percent reduction in ruts with our track. That’s a pretty big reduction.

Kris Polly: What message would you have for our readers, specifically farmers who are using pivots?

John Cates: I think that the biggest thing is the reduction in downtime. Stuck pivots and flat tires cost a lot of money. You may not realize that until it happens. You don’t grasp the magnitude of a stuck pivot and all the corn that you have to run over, beans you have to get unstuck; the downtime from watering and how much yield you could lose. Preventing downtime is very important, especially during the season when you have to water. Everyone knows that you get what you pay for. These tracks are the most cost effective in terms of price-per-square-inch of value. My tracks beat everyone else hands down. Eight tires would cost you over $3,000.

Kris Polly: Do you offer discounts if someone buys an entire pivot?

John Cates: I can work with farmers on full systems.

I am trying to stay at dealer pricing to keep everyone happy, and I work directly with dealers and farmers.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN CATES.

Kris Polly: Would you please share your vision for the company going forward?

John Cates: The sky is the limit, to be honest. I know two people locally who, despite not doing a whole lot of marketing for their company, have still been able to almost double their growth just about every year. I

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IRRIGATION LEADER

THE INNOVATORS Front view of the Tribine.

A Revolution in 6 Months: The Invention of the Tribine

T

he Tribine is a revolutionary new machine that aims to fundamentally improve farmers’ harvesting

efficiency. The machine is a huge combine–grain cart combination with articulated steering and full-time all-wheel drive.

Its 1,000-bushel capacity reduces the need for frequent unloading.

The company, which has been in business for 3½ years, designed the Tribine in only 6 months and is already integrating user feedback into its new production models.

Greg Terjesen, Tribine’s vice president of sales and marketing, spoke with Irrigation Leader Editor-in-Chief Kris Polly about what makes the Tribine unique and what it can do.

Kris Polly: Please give our readers a brief history of the Tribine.

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Greg Terjesen: Right. We are a small startup, but many of us come from corporate America. We had 8 to 10 engineers working on the Tribine at the beginning. Half those engineers are also part-time farmers, and almost all of them had worked for Case, AGCO, or John Deere—all the major players in the agricultural industry. In addition, all our vendors and suppliers can be found in a 60-mile radius of Newton. It actually made for an ideal location.

Kris Polly: Can you please tell our readers about the overall concept of the Tribine?

Greg Terjesen: Well, commodity prices have dived: Corn used to trade at $7 or $8 a bushel; today that is down to $3.20. The drop in farmer income that represents has been a real challenge.

At the same time, farmers are looking to increase their yield per acre, and there are a lot of people in the seed and the fertilizer industries who are working toward the same aim. One seed manufacturer, for example, is looking at twin-row planting: Instead of planting normally spaced rows, they are putting two rows next to each other. Now, as opposed to dry corn at 70 bushels an acre, some irrigated areas are already producing 250 bushels per acre, with 300 bushels per acre right on the horizon. It takes larger equipment to harvest such high-yield fields. The original equipment manufacturers that are in the header business are looking at wider and more- efficient headers that can process more grain into the harvester at once.

IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTO COURTESY OF TRIBINE HARVESTER.

Greg Terjesen: The Tribine concept started with our founder, Ben Dillon, more than 20 years ago. His family has been farming in Indiana since 1840, and after he retired from private industry, he moved back to the family farm, only to find that he was put to work driving the tractor and pulling the grain cart around the field. Ben decided there had to be a better method than just having someone crisscrossing the field towing grain to trucks. He started working on different ideas and models—he actually has four early models in what he calls his museum, or what most people would call his barn, in Logansport, Indiana.

Once he was satisfied with the concept, he established an engineering group here in Newton, Kansas, in a small downtown office. Once we got the concept down on paper, we moved into a facility in a new industrial park here in Newton where our production facility is now. About 6 months later, almost to the day, the first Tribine rolled off of the assembly line.

Kris Polly: It took just 6 months from design to manufacture?

THE INNOVATORS Other challenges farmers face today are increased operating costs and a labor shortage—it has even become a challenge for us to find labor for our shop. Fuel prices are going up, equipment costs are going up, labor costs are going up, and commodity prices are almost at their all-time low. So how do we help the farmer become more efficient and reduce his operating costs so he can make money at $3 a bushel of corn? That is where the Tribine comes in.

Another challenge faced by farmers is compaction. The more a piece of equipment—whether it is a tractor, a combine, a grain cart, or a truck—crisscrosses a field, the more it compacts the soil. That can reduce the yield by 2–3 percent. If you have 200 bushels of corn per acre and you reduce that by 2 or 3 percent, that starts adding up and hitting you in the pocketbook, especially when you are farming 1,500–3,000 acres or more.

Kris Polly: So, the Tribine is an articulated machine that pulls its own grain cart. What is the storage capacity of its grain cart?

Kris Polly: What is the thinking behind reducing the auger size from 22 inches to 20 inches? Was that part of the twin engine effort?

Greg Terjesen: Yes, it was, and it was part of our goal of being able to unload 1,000 bushels in 2 minutes. People are always coming up to us and asking whether we can actually unload 1,000 bushels in 2 minutes. Well, we did a test with a stopwatch and a drone and unloaded 1,025 bushels of wheat in exactly 2 minutes. There is a video of that test on our website.

Kris Polly: What is the length of your auger?

Greg Terjesen: The discharge auger is 26 feet long, so we have no problem getting up to the truck for easy unloading.

Kris Polly: Why did you decide to put the auger in a tube? Is that a structural component?

“The grain cart on the Tribine is 1,000 bushels, not by coincidence: That is the same amount as a semi load.”

Greg Terjesen: It is a structural component.

The auger that goes underneath the feeder Greg Terjesen: The grain cart on the Tribine that goes back into the grain cart is rigid. is 1,000 bushels, not by coincidence: That is When you use the articulated steering, the the same amount as a semi load. Competitor machine actually moves over that auger machines hover around 400 bushels, but using the articulation joint. It has two tubes: their grain carts are on top of the engine and an exterior tube, then about a quarter-inch everything else as opposed to being pulled gap, and then the interior tube, which holds behind the machine. They can’t add much the auger. The auger tube gets stressed more height before affecting the machine’s because of the speed at which the auger is —GREG TERJESEN stability. So the size of our grain cart is moving all the grain, which is why there is a unique. If you can unload 1,000 bushels gap between the inside and the outside tube. directly into a semi, skipping the cart and the tractor, you can do The outside tube, which is ⅜-inch thick, is there for structural it in as little as 2 minutes. That’s 8½ bushels per second, more stability. We call it our drawbar auger, because it connects the than twice the speed of any competitor machine. two modules. Globally, we currently have over 40 patents on this machine.

Kris Polly: What is the diameter of the auger on your machine?

Kris Polly: Can you please describe the tires on the Tribine and Greg Terjesen: It is a 20-inch-diameter auger. We reduced this how they affect compaction? from 22 inches, and fit it with a bigger motor. Right now, the Tribine has two 9-liter Cummins engines. It used to have a Greg Terjesen: We work with Titan Tires, which has developed 6.7 liter and a 9 liter—the 6.7 for propulsion and the 9 for the what it calls a low-sidewall tire. It is pretty much a floater, but threshing and cleaning system—but we were not getting the they call it a low sidewall. What makes it unique is that as you horsepower that we needed to hit our own milestones. One of fill up your grain cart, the tire goes down about 7 inches. That those is a roading speed of 30 miles per hour, towing a header increases the size of the footprint: The footprint gets wider, but on a cart. So we made an upgrade at the end of year one and more importantly, it gets longer, so the weight is spread over a replaced the smaller engine. Now we have two 9-liter engines much larger area. Compaction is based on nothing but a simple that are saddled on both sides of the threshing and cleaning formula: the size of your footprint divided by the weight of your system. The efficiency and fuel economy on two smaller engines machine. When we were working on the Tribine concept, our is much better than on one large 16-liter engine. When you previous prototypes had a much smaller footprint. We contacted are roading the machine, the engine that drives the cleaning Titan, and lo and behold, it was working on this new technology and threshing is just idling. So you don’t have a 16-liter engine and it was a perfect match. running at 2,000 rpm, you have one engine that is running Thinking about harvesting in high moisture, people look at 2,000 rpm and another at 800 rpm. Another benefit is that they the Tribine and say, “Doesn’t that get stuck because of its size?” use the same parts.

The answer is no. The farthest we have gone into mud IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

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THE INNOVATORS

Rear view of the Tribine.

was in Ames, Iowa, at a customer’s farm. They had had 4½ inches of rain the night before we arrived. We originally were not going to run, but the farmer asked us to show him what the machine could do. We said that we were not afraid to run it in moisture, but we did not want to damage his field. He responded that that was his problem; he really wanted to see us run, and we did. With these tires, the only thing that really sinks down are the cleats; beyond that, it really does not sink.

In addition, we have four independent planetary hydraulic motors, one inside each of the rims. This gives us full-time allwheel drive. It also creates some simplicity in the drive system and gives the machine a tremendous amount of traction.

We also have the center articulation for steering coupled with the rear-wheel steering engaged from the cab. You do that simply by twisting the joystick, which allows you to crab the machine.

You can offset the front module from the rear module and you can crab the machine sideways up to the semi for unloading.

The discharge auger goes out 90 degrees plus another 17, so with the lengths of the discharge auger and the maneuverability you do not really need grain carts. Our biggest header is a 40-foot MacDon that we run on wheat and beans. There is plenty of clearance to maneuver the machine up to the semi, even with the 40-foot header on it.

since 1840. We also received plenty of input from local farmers as we went through the development process.

Kris Polly: I was really impressed with the machine when I saw it—it truly looks made to last. Did farmers have a role in designing it?

Greg Terjesen: Anyone can afford 2 minutes to unload, especially when you are unloading 2½ times as fast as your competitors. You do slow down as you unload on the go into a grain cart, but that is more than offset by the cost of the grain cart and the salary of the guy driving the tractor. Most farmers will not get rid of their tractor—it is such a necessary tool on farms these days—but do

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Greg Terjesen: That is our whole concept. We will be the first ones to tell you to park your grain cart and unload directly into the semi at the end of the field. With all the new GPS, technology, and software on the market today, it is very easy to lay out a field, and if you are running, for example, 200 bushels of corn, you know exactly where you need to park your trucks. A standard combine can go down the field and back, and then it has to be unloaded because it can only hold 350-400 bushels. We can go down and back and down and back again before unloading. With farmers’ demands for higher yields, 300 bushels per acre is right around the corner. There are guys right now running 250 bushels of corn.

Kris Polly: Folks will say that although you have eliminated the grain cart, you have also reduced the time that the combine is actually harvesting. With a grain cart, you unload on the go and that the machine never stops. What is your answer to that argument?

IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TRIBINE HARVESTER.

Greg Terjesen: Yes, about half of our engineering staff are farmers.

Our founder Ben Dillon and his family have been in farming

Kris Polly: Well, you have created something special. The boost of efficiency that the Tribine can provide farmers is impressive.

THE INNOVATORS you really need a grain cart? There is an initial cost, and you are burning fuel in it and depreciating it. We say that the price of a Tribine is equal to the price of a competitor machine and half a grain cart. In fact, our competitors’ prices have gone up quite a bit in price in the last 12 months. If you look at hard numbers, the Tribine is probably about $40,000 more than a class 9 competitor machine, and yet the Tribine is a class 11 machine. We are the only ones with a class 11 machine.

stricter roading regulations. When you realize that some of our competitor machines are built there, you understand why they are less wide.

Kris Polly: How long you have been in business?

Greg Terjesen: We have officially been in business for 3½ years.

We have started to target our machines in five states: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. We are trying to sell directly Kris Polly: Would you explain to our readers what a class 11 is? to farmers. Everyone who buys a machine gets a dedicated phone number: There is one point of contact per machine. Someone will Greg Terjesen: The Association of Equipment be accessible at that number 24/7.

Manufacturers classes combines based on My background is from the constructionhorsepower and the size of their grain carts. equipment side of the business. If you have There is no machine in the same class as a machine like a backhoe down on a site, the Tribine. Ours is 650 horsepower at a you can bring in a small excavator to do continuous rating. People play games with the the same job. If you have combine down, horsepower numbers. Don’t get me wrong: I you are facing a ticking clock, because have respect for our competitors, and I know Mother Nature dictates when you have to that they would not be where they were if harvest. Not everyone has a 54,000-pound they did not put out good products, but when machine standing around that they can someone is saying that their peak horsepower just send out to a customer. It is a lot more —GREG TERJESEN is 550 I immediately ask what their rated complicated on this side of the fence than on horsepower is. If they ran their machine at the construction side. When I started, I was peak horsepower, they would have to replace the engine every talking to farmers, and I asked them what some of their biggest month. The real number you have to look at is the continuous challenges were, and every one of them told me that product rated horsepower. The Tribine, for example, with the two engines support is a major challenge. A lot of farmers run these machines is 18 hours a day in the middle of the harvest season.

650. A green machine’s continuous rating is 525 horsepower.

The other thing that you will notice is missing from the Tribine They will boost that up and say that they have 560—well, that is is a steering wheel. Where the steering wheel would have been, the peak rating. You are only kidding yourself if you publish that we put a glass floor so that you can actually look down on your number. I could very well go out and publish that the Tribine’s header and feeder house and get a perfect overview of everything peak rating is 720 horsepower, but that is a misleading number, that is going on. That is where the grain is coming in, and if and I would be doing a disservice to customers. You need that there is going to be a clogging point, that is going to be where peak horsepower if you are on a steep slope, and we have been on it is. Construction equipment suppliers have been using joystick some pretty steep slopes during testing this year, but nowhere will controls for the last 15–20 years, but the concept is being adopted you see us publish 720 peak horsepower. by agricultural equipment providers as well. Now you can buy a John Deere motor grader without a steering wheel; it has a single Kris Polly: What is the width of the axles on your machine? joystick for steering, just like the Tribine.

The other thing we did with the cab design was to wrap the Greg Terjesen: The width of the machine is 14 feet, 7 inches glass around all the way to the back sides of the cab. There is a from side to side, measured from outside the tires. In some states, camera and a light at the end of the discharge auger. There is also believe it or not, you can actually put something that wide on a camera and sensor inside the grain bin. The farmer can just turn a semi. In Kansas, you can do that, but if you go to Illinois, the his head to the left and see the end of the discharge auger. He state trooper is going to stop you immediately, so there we have to does not have to be concerned about seeing it on a monitor. take the tires off to move the machine. It is not that difficult; we We have made a lot of changes over the 3 years since we actually have a patented tire-handling system, and we can take all introduced the Tribine at the Farm Progress Show in four tires off with just a forklift in about 30 minutes.

2016. We learned a lot during our prototyping from our customers, including our very loyal following on social media.

Kris Polly: How wide is the Tribine compared to ompetitors?

If it had not been for input from those customers, our machine would not be where it is today. IL Greg Terjesen: We are a little bit wider because of the tires.

One thing you have to remember is that at present, we are only Greg Terjesen is the vice president of sales and marketing at Tribine marketing the Tribine in North America. A machine of this size Harvester LLC. He can be reached at and width would never work in Europe because they have much greg.terjesen@tribineharvester.com.

“We learned a lot during our prototyping from our customers, including our very loyal following on social media.”

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

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THE INNOVATORS

Clearing Fields for Over 50 Years: Degelman Industries Rock Pickers

Degelman's Rock King in action.

S

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IRRIGATION LEADER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DEGELMAN.

ince 1962, Degelman Industries has been supplying because of the large deposits of glacial rock that are farmers all around the United States and Canada exposed every spring. They do particularly well in the rocky with effective solutions for large-scale rock removal mountain soil found in the Twin Falls region of Idaho, a in their fields. Degelman designs and manufactures rock state that is one of Degelman’s biggest markets. pickers—machines that give farmers the capability to Degelman offers four models of rock picker: the Prong quickly and effectively remove large numbers of rocks from Picker R570P, the Signature Series 6000, the Signature their fields. Degelman was founded on a Series 7200, and the newly introduced farm in Raymore, Saskatchewan.

Rock King. The Prong Picker, the smallest “The most important Wilf Degelman needed a better solution the models, is used to spot-pick rocks. thing about Degelman of to removing the rocks from his fields than There is no reel mechanism on the Prong is that we always what his farmhands could provide. He Picker; it uses grill tines that are run in designed and built his first rock picker: overbuild our products the ground up to the rock that you want a machine that he could pull behind his so that they will stand to remove from the field. The Prong Picker tractors to remove rocks from the field. then scoops underneath the rock, lifts it, the test of time.”

Degelman currently employs over and dumps it into an onboard hopper. The — JASON FAULKNER, 250 people at its manufacturing and Signature Series 6000 and 7200 models U.S. SALES MANAGER sales hubs in Regina, Saskatchewan, and closely follow Wilf Degelman’s original Hillsboro, North Dakota. The company rock picker design and are named after manufactures several models of rock picker using the size of their respective 60-inch and 72-inch grills. The Wilf Degelman’s original 1962 design. wider the grill, the wider the rocks the picker can process.

Farmers usually run their rock pickers in the fall, to The Rock King—Degelman’s largest rock picker, with a spot-pick rocks they found during harvest, and in the 96-inch-wide grill—must be pulled by a four-wheel-drive spring, before planting, to collect rocks that have become tractor with at least 250 horsepower. exposed during the winter. The freezing and thawing of All Degelman rock pickers have open floors that allow the ground pushes buried rocks closer to the surface, and dirt to fall through and back into the field as it breaks off after the winter snows melt, they appear on the surface. the rocks, preventing the removal of soil from the field.

Degelman pickers are relied on heavily in glacier country They also come with hydraulic dumps and replicable

THE INNOVATORS excavator tips. They can pick up rocks as small as 3 inches and as large as 2.5 feet in diameter, depending on the size of the picker. Degelman rock pickers range in price from $18,000 to $85,000, depending on size and options.

“The most important thing about Degelman is that we always overbuild our products so that they will stand the test of time,” says Jason Faulkner, the company’s U.S. sales manager. “There are farmers who are still using Degelman rock pickers that were made 30 years ago.” The company’s aim—then and now—is to design and build rock pickers that will last for decades. IL Degelman Industries can be reached by e-mail at info@degelman.com.

A signature series rock picker.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DEGELMAN.

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INNOVATORS

IWS installed a total of eight traveling water screens for the Berrenda Mesa Water District at one of their locations in Lost Hills, CA. Various lengths, widths and designs are made specifically for the customer’s desires, wants, and needs.

CONTACT

PHOTO BY

RICH GARGAN (661) 979-1815 iwsrich@sbcglobal.net

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

CHRIS GARGAN (661) 979-7206 iwschris@sbcglobal.net International Water Screens 11007 Ainswick Dr. Bakersfield, CA 93311 Website: www.internationalwaterscreens.com Phone: (661) 746-7959

JOEL IRVING (310) 614-4681 Iwsjoel@sbcglobal.net

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF

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IRRIGATED CROP Newly planted land at the IVCRC.

The Next Big Crop?

Studying Hemp in the Imperial Valley

I

ndustrial hemp is becoming a big business in the United States. Projections show that it has the potential to earn billions of dollars and create thousands of jobs in the next several years. Industrial hemp is a form of cannabis sativa with less than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, making it entirely distinct from its cousin, marijuana. Hemp is used in the production of goods such as rope, lotion, cannabidiol (CBD) oil, sunscreen, clothing, and paper. Research centers across the country are beginning to study the plant to prepare for its promising economic future.

The Imperial Valley Conservation Research Center (IVCRC) in Brawley, California, is on the cutting edge of industrial hemp research. Parker Kenyon, a writer for Irrigation Leader, spoke with Jim Wood, director of the IVCRC, about the center’s research on industrial hemp, the crop’s future in the Imperial Valley, and how the public perceives the operation.

Parker Kenyon: Please tell us about your professional background.

Jim Wood: Well, it is interesting—most of my background has nothing to do with agriculture and agricultural research.

I went to Purdue University, where I graduated from the Krannert School of Business, and I earned an MBA from the University of Cincinnati. I then worked for manufacturing companies for 20 years or so, primarily for the Gillette

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Company, where I was an operations manager for a number of their operations. Then, for almost 20 years, I ran my own business, a manufacturing operation based in Mexicali, Mexico, where we made plastic parts used primarily for packaging. Three years ago, I took the position of director of the IVCRC.

Parker Kenyon: Please give us some information about the IVCRC. Jim Wood: The center was established in 1951 as a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) research station. It was operated and funded by the USDA until the year 2000, when the USDA shut down some of its research stations around the country, including the one here in Brawley, California. A group of farmers who had already been involved in directing activities at the station took over the center. They formed a board of directors and began operating the center as an independently run nonprofit research center.

The primary role of the research center is to support research that benefits the Imperial Valley. We have roughly 130 acres of small plots available that agriculture companies and farmers can lease to conduct trials. Customers lease fields of anywhere from 1 acre to around 10 acres and do their own research in the fields. Our role is to provide IRRIGATION LEADER

IRRIGATED CROP remove selenium from river water that will eventually end up in the Salton Sea. The algae is also being evaluated as a potential biofuel. We have a student farm project operated under a California Department of Food and Agriculture grant that ties into nutrition education in the Imperial Valley. We also work with Beta Seed, a company from Minnesota; we provide the company with a farm advisor to help conduct their research and report back on the activities and results.

Parker Kenyon: Would you please describe the work that the IVCRC is doing with industrial hemp?

One of IVCRC’s goals is to help educate the county and local farmers, not only on hemp but on navigating California’s laws and establishing the Imperial Valley as a major national and global producer. At the moment, while the state is developing the registration process for commercial growers, only educational institutions and established research centers are allowed to grow industrial hemp in California for research. Because we are an established research center, we are able to conduct the research at no cost to the local growers, who will eventually get all the benefits of the research.

“Here in the Imperial Valley specifically, we expect hemp to be a $600 million commodity.”

Parker Kenyon: Would you please share your insights and predictions about the growth of the industrial hemp industry in the United States?

PHOTOS COURTESY OF IVCRC.

—JIM WOOD

Jim Wood: I will start by giving you some of the history of the project. In 1994, a gentleman by the name of Chris Boucher came to the Imperial Valley and worked with the center to grow about 1 acre of industrial hemp.

There was a video made at the time, which I’ve seen, and it’s pretty exciting to watch. The video shows the process of growing hemp over a number of weeks. But at the end of the video, a state agency comes in and determines that the operation is not legal, and the field is destroyed. So, the history of industrial hemp in the Imperial Valley, and in California, goes back to that field at our research center in 1994.

Late last year, Mr. Boucher, who is now the chief executive officer of a company named Farmtiva, approached me about doing another research project on our site. He explained that the laws have changed dramatically since 1994 and that the project could be reopened. I should mention that Farmtiva is backed financially by a company named Isodiol, which is in the business of distributing CBD oil worldwide. CBD oil is derived from hemp and is emerging as a significant natural product with numerous health benefits.

The idea was to come in and research the best cultivars, seasons, and growing methods for industrial hemp in the Imperial Valley. Obviously, our weather here makes it possible to grow crops year-round; however, not as much is grown in the summer because the temperature can reach 115º–120º Fahrenheit. The first round of research was aimed at growing industrial hemp during those extremely hot summer months to evaluate the potential for as many as three growing seasons per year. We have a team of people at the center who are monitoring the growth of the plants, which were planted in May. They are tracking soil types, water usage, and other activities, as well as tracking the growth and health of the crop. The nice thing for the Imperial Valley is that all this research will be shared with any interested farmers in the area. In fact, we had our first growers workshop in August; we had a great turnout with lots of interest, both locally and beyond.

IRRIGATIONLEADERMAGAZINE.COM

Jim Wood: Some research on industrial hemp has been done in other areas of the United States, but our research will go beyond just looking into growing and harvesting the plant. We are going to research the processing, distribution, marketing, and sale of the product. The idea is that at the end of the research, we will have a template for a business model for the Imperial Valley to use.

My understanding is that the most profitable product to be made from industrial hemp is CBD oil. Other products, such as seeds, seed oil, and fiber, can be valuable, but at the moment, CBD oil is the most profitable. I have seen projections that show that CBD oil will be a $500 millionper-year industry by 2022, and that overall, industrial hemp will be close to a $2 billion-per-year industry. Actually, it is already a significant business in the United States, but all the hemp is grown abroad—so there is a huge opportunity for growers in the United States to develop a local supply.

Here in the Imperial Valley specifically, we expect hemp to be a $600 million commodity. To put that in perspective, the county’s current most valuable commodity, cattle, brings in around $400 million per year. Industrial hemp has the potential to become the largest income producer in the Imperial Valley.

Parker Kenyon: What would be your advice to anyone who is considering breaking into the research and production of industrial hemp?

Jim Wood: At this moment, you have to be very careful to make sure that you are legally qualified to research and grow industrial hemp. As it stands, in California, only established research centers and colleges and universities are allowed to do this research. Federal and state laws sometimes conflict, or at least create confusion. In California, independent farmers are not allowed to grow hemp quite yet, even for research purposes.

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IRRIGATED CROP I would also say that having an advisor like Chris Boucher, with his many years of experience and expertise, has been critical for us on this project. We planted our first crop in late May to grow in June, July, and August, when temperatures reach as high as 120º. Because of Chris’s background, he was able to identify and procure varieties of hemp that would be able to withstand that heat. I have had farmers tell me that they attempted to grow small quantities of hemp and had no success. The knowledge and direction that we are receiving from Chris have been critical.

The staff of the IVCRC.

Parker Kenyon: Have you had any difficulties with the public perception of your research?

Jim Wood: It has been a mixed bag, and there are still ongoing discussions with the public about our research.

There are many farmers in the Imperial Valley who are eager to be involved in the research project, with the goal of getting involved with hemp on their own. It can be tricky because federal and state laws place restrictions on this type of research. Congress has taken actions recently that have made it easier for people to get involved in the research of industrial hemp. Congress has also acted to prohibit the federal government from spending any money to inhibit this type of research. However, there are still gray areas in the federal laws.

The public perception can be a little frustrating at times because there are a lot of people who think that marijuana and hemp are the same thing. That is not the case. The key to marijuana’s psychoactive effects is its high THC content.

Hemp has virtually no THC and thus no psychoactive effect whatsoever.They happen to be in the same botanical family, cannabis sativa, but they simply are not the same thing. That is a widespread misunderstanding. Hopefully, that perception will change. The 2018 Farm Bill is a promising step in that direction. One of the things that we expect to come out of the Farm Bill is the removal of hemp from the controlled substances list. That removal will begin to change perceptions of hemp and eliminate some of the restrictions on growing, transporting, and marketing hemp. IL For more information about the Imperial Valley Conservation Research Center, visit brawleyresearch.org or e-mail info@brawleyresearch.com.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF IVCRC.

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