Circles of Green in the Toasty Northwest | by Jill Zwiener

A couple weeks ago, I had the chance to visit Washington state and Oregon. The toasty 105° temps kept me warm and the green circles from the Valley_® center pivots that were seen in almost every direction kept me smiling! It made me think of our billboard on Highway 275 just outside Valley, NE, which reads, “This is Valley Country.” There were Valley machines everywhere! These growers in the Northwest sure know what they’re doing!

Valley pivot with Precision Corner arm

We met with over 15 growers, and there was one thing they all had in common – their love for Valley. There were two products in particular that they raved about….VRI (Variable Rate Irrigation) and BaseStation (remote monitoring and control of center pivots). When discussing BaseStation, we heard the same message over and over….“Now that I have it, I’ll never go back!”

Grower using Valley BaseStation 

We saw a variety of crops – potatoes, wheat, corn, alfalfa, beans, onions, rhubarb, asparagus, radish, and grass seed. The variety of crops and the varying landscape were fun to see.

If you’re ever in the Pasco, WA, area, you need to stop by the Country Mercantile for a little pit stop. It’s definitely my kind of place! They have homemade ice cream, chocolates, fresh fruit and canned/jarred goodies. And, my favorite part had to be the free salsa samples! If only I wasn’t getting on a plane the next day I would have bought a few tubs of it to enjoy! But don’t worry…I didn’t leave hungry. I had a monster ice cream shake which I couldn’t even finish…now, if you know me, that’s a rarity!

The best chocolate shake EVER!

Fun fact: 
Workers in the area harvest asparagus by hand. They use a knife, cut the spear, and fill their buckets with the superfood. They often work in the dark hours of the early morning to beat the heat.

Grower picking asparagus

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Jill Zwiener Brand Manager Jill joined the Valley Irrigation team in 2011. She loves country music, fountain soda, food, college football, and the ski slopes of Colorado. She enjoys using photography to freeze the precious bits of time with her family into pictures that she can cherish for years.