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March 24, 2005 Center Pivot is Agricultural Production Robot Travelers looking out airplane windows while flying across the United States may wonder what creates those giant green circles so visible from 30,000 feet. The circles are crops irrigated with a self-propelled sprinkler irrigation system that rotates around a central point commonly called a “center pivot system” or “center pivot.” “Without the center pivot, there would be very little irrigation in North Dakota,” says Tom Scherer, North Dakota State University Extension Service agricultural engineer. “The economic impact of irrigated high-value crops, such as potatoes and other vegetables, would not exist.” Crop irrigation will start in North Dakota in a month or two, and producers are assessing their irrigation needs for the upcoming growing season. Center pivots are so common that many people are surprised to learn they have existed only about 50 years. The center pivot’s inventor, Frank Zybach of Strasburg, Colo., received a patent for a "Self-propelled Sprinkler Apparatus" in July 1952. The center pivot is the first, and most successful, robot for production agriculture, Scherer says. The center pivot can be used to irrigate from one to more than 600 acres. Varying the length of pipe or adding a corner attachment will allow center pivots to irrigate almost any size or shape field. An operator only has to turn on the water pump, start the center pivot and wait until the system completes its journey across the field, which can be scheduled from 12 hours to 10 days, depending on the volume of water applied. Center pivots are used on about one-third of the irrigated land in the United States. In the Great Plains, they irrigate more than 90 percent, and that percentage is increasing each year. The center pivot’s success comes from the farmer’s need for a low-labor, efficient irrigation system that can be used on all types of cropland, from level to rolling topography, Scherer says. For large fields, center pivots have the lowest labor requirement of all irrigation systems and provide the best opportunity for controlled, precise application of water. Zybach's invention has undergone a number of improvements. Modern center pivots are tall enough to irrigate orange trees or pass over oil well pumps, and can be used to clean up groundwater contaminated with volatile chemicals or apply wastewater from various sources, such as animal operations, food processing plants and municipalities, to land. The computerized control panel can perform certain functions automatically when the sprinkler reaches a specified location in the field. The functions might include turning on a chemigation pump, slowing the pivot at selected spots or reversing it. An operator can check or control a pivot from a cell phone or a regular telephone with tones. Some center pivots use global positioning systems to control corner arms or pinpoint the pivot’s location in the field. “In the not-too-distant future, center pivots may be programmed to turn on or off automatically when irrigation is needed based on weather, crop water use and soil moisture status,” says South Dakota State University Extension specialist Hal Werner. “Then they become smart robots.” Because center pivots have sprinklers, wind affects the uniformity of water application, runoff can be a problem on slopes and sprinklers can get plugged, Scherer says. They also require more mechanical maintenance and engineering design than other types of irrigation systems. Most importantly, producers need to select the sprinkler package to match the soil texture and type, wind conditions, field topography, and water and power sources. More information about center pivots and other sprinkler irrigation systems is available in “Sprinkler Irrigation Systems” from MidWest Plan Service at Iowa State University for $25 plus shipping and handling. The 250-page book is a planning tool, instruction manual and reference guide for designing and managing sprinkler irrigation systems, especially center pivots. Order online at www.mwpshq.org; by e-mail at mwps@iastate.edu; by phone at (800) 562-3618 or (515) 294-4337; by fax at (515) 294-9589; or by writing to MWPS, 122 Davidson Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011-3080. ### Source:
Tom Scherer, (701) 231-7239, thomas.scherer@ndsu.edu
Click here for a larger format image. (74Kb jpg) Cutline: This is an aerial view of a field irrigated with a center pivot system near Karlsruhe, N.D. |
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