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.

On Location: Grower Trip to Washington | by Michelle Stolte

Greetings from lovely, steamy Pasco, WA. Last week, my co-worker, Jill, and I were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to visit the Pasco area to check out various fields, talk with growers, and see the different irrigation equipment in use in the Northwest. I am happy to say that many growers in this part of the country have realized the value and potential of center pivot irrigation and are using this equipment to make their operations as profitable as possible. As for our Valley_® customers, besides being amazingly hospitable, they are very progressive, adopting the use of Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) and the BaseStation remote management tool. 

I periodically get to travel to farm fields in different parts of the USA (even to fields in a select few countries), but I have never seen anything like what I saw on this trip. The diversity of crops is extremely impressive, with crops varying from onions to mint to asparagus to lavender. I don’t remember the last time I had to constantly ask “And what is that crop?” Coming from Nebraska, you learn to recognize corn and soybeans pretty quickly, but not a whole lot more. 

I have also come to realize that maybe I am becoming a bit of an agriculture geek, because I think the scenery out here is absolutely beautiful. This area of Washington is very dry, averaging 5-7 inches (130-180 mm) of rain a year, but when you look out at the hills and see green circles in a sea of dry, brown land, it is a beautiful sight (pictured above). And unlike the majority of Nebraska, these circles are NOT on flat ground. The terrain is rolling, so you may only see half of the circles coming down the front side of the hill while the other half is on the back side. If you have ever see Salvador Dali’s painting “The Persistence of Memory,” which features melting clocks, that is exactly what the center pivot circles out here reminded me of. This picture isn’t the best as the triple digit temperatures created a bit of a haze, but hopefully you can at least get the idea. 

Many thanks to our tour guides, Shane Shiplet and Jonah Lindeman, as well as to our local dealer, Valmont Northwest. This has been a great, educational experience for me!

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Michelle Stolte Global Marketing Manager Michelle has been at Valley Irrigation for over 10 years and is finally no longer a newbie! She has spent her entire time at Valley in the Marketing Department (international and domestic) and loves every minute of it. Michelle enjoys traveling and spending time with her husband. She also likes reading, swing dancing (although she isn't really that good...), and warm weather.