Jan 4, 2017FieldNET offers irrigation management for potato growers
Less time in the field, less spent on valuable resources and greater control of operations – those are the benefit growers say they are realizing with award-winning FieldNET by Lindsay, according to the company.
“FieldNET is a fully-integrated wireless management tool that lets growers control their irrigation systems from virtually anywhere,” said Reece Andrews, new technology product manager at Lindsay Corporation. “With FieldNET, growers have the ability to monitor and control pivots, laterals, pumps, valves and sensors from a laptop, tablet or smartphone, resulting in long-term savings on energy, water, chemicals and labor.”
Pasco, Washington grower Blake Olberding agrees. With 950 acres of potatoes and 700 – 1,000 acres of alfalfa, he has incorporated eight FieldNET units into his irrigation system.
“In the potato industry, we’re hitting fungicides, fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides all the time – tens of thousands of dollars. Having the ability to monitor that kind of money going through the water line is definitely key,” Olberding said. “It saves you so much wear and tear on your pick-up, which is money. And it can eliminate the job of an extra irrigator.”
Andrews added that with FieldNET Pivot Control, growers can retrofit almost any brand of pivot to full remote irrigation control and monitoring capabilities.
“Because farms are consolidating, multiple pivot brands are being used,” Andrews said. “Products such as FieldNET and Pivot Control allow these operators to have one user interface on any system, regardless of brand or control panel. Increasingly, growers want to be able to control their entire irrigation system, from pivots to the pumps and sensors, remotely and wirelessly from either their smartphones, tablets or computers.”
Pivot Control comes standard with 360-sector Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI), offering twice the number of sectors available on most basic VRI products. Growers working with agronomists and crop specialists to analyze their unique field conditions can upload custom prescriptions to FieldNET with the touch of a button.
For more information, stop by the Lindsay booth (#654) at Potato Expo 2017, visit www.myfieldnet.com or talk to your local Zimmatic by Lindsay dealer.
