Cotton Growers Earn Prestigious Australian Award | by Shannon Peterson

Australian cotton growers, who happen to be Valley_® customers, recently won the 2014 Brownhill Cup – one of Australia’s most prestigious agricultural awards. Andrew and Heike Watson were honored for reducing their water usage while increasing their yield at Kilmarnock – their family farm in Boggabri, New South Whales.

From left, Geoff Wearne and Tim Harvey of Agribusiness Banking
Commonwealth Bank and award-winner Andrew Watson.
Photo credit: Paul Matthews.

The Brownhill Cup recognizes farming practices that improve innovation and sustainability. Founder David Brownhill praised the Watsons for their continual improvement.

“Andrew and his team have made a considerable contribution to agriculture, and especially to the cotton sector,” Brownhill said. “Their field trials and on-farm research have contributed to the industry’s understanding of best practice, and they have set the bar high for innovative and sustainable farming practices.”

Andrew was prompted by the millennium drought to closely examine water efficiency measures. In fact, he received a prestigious Nuffield Farming Scholarship in 2006 that he used to focus on water use efficiency in irrigation.

“I began to investigate how we could most efficiently irrigate with the water we had,” Andrew said. “I did my scholarship research along those lines, so we decided we would invest in overhead irrigators.”

A visit to Valley Irrigation during his research led him to purchase a Valley Rainger™ Swing-Around linear and Valley BaseStation for remote monitoring and control. He has added two more linears, and his farm plan calls for investing in more linears and a center pivot over time.

Andrew said learning to use irrigation has really made a difference. He believes mechanized irrigation is a more efficient use of the farm’s resources, both water and land.

“Our water usage has reduced by about 20 percent over the past 11 years, while our yield is up by about 30 percent,” he said when receiving the award.

Andrew was named New South Wales Farmer’s ‘Young Farmer of the Year’ in 2004 and won the ‘Australian Cotton Grower of the Year Award’ in 2008. He also served as the Cotton Australia board chairman.

Read more about the Watson farm and the award here.

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Shannon Peterson Marketing Content Editor Shannon joined Valley Irrigation in 2013. She writes and edits materials about irrigation equipment. Shannon enjoys traveling with her family, particularly to national parks, and she occasionally writes about her travels for tourism magazines. She also likes trying new restaurants, seeing movies, and watching Husker football and Creighton basketball.

Waging War on Waste to Serve our Customers Better | by Adrian Cliffe

Valmont_® Middle East has been celebrating recently and with good reason. The VME manufacturing plant was awarded the Silver Level of Operational Lean Excellence.

Lean is a method of minimizing waste in manufacturing, while maximizing value for customers. Operational excellence is a philosophy of problem-solving, teamwork and leadership that results in the ongoing improvement of an organization. The continuous dedication to improvement that is at the foundation of Operational Lean Excellence is a core value here at Valley_® Irrigation.

The silver award in lean recognizes achievement in many areas, including leadership, empowerment, vision, innovation, customer service, best practices and commitment to quality.

The Valmont lean leadership team presented VME with the award and these words, “The work that each of you and your teams have put into learning about lean and implementing best practice achievements to improve your business and eliminate waste is truly exemplary across the entire Valmont family. You should all feel extremely proud and rewarded for this dedication!

“Don’t be surprised to find others from around the company showing up at your door to take it all in. There is much to see and share! Congratulations and keep up the fantastic work.”

We are proud of this achievement – as it stands we are the only Valmont manufacturing plant to earn this recognition. And, after celebrating, we look forward to building on our success and working toward the next level.

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Adrian Cliffe Territory Sales Manager for Egypt, Turkey, Oman, and UAE Adrian has been working for Valmont® Irrigation for more than 3 years. He is an agricultural engineer and has worked for the largest suppliers of machinery in Ireland. He enjoys designing and manufacturing farm machinery. Adrian was a member of the Middle East hurling team that won the international championship last year. He also plays soccer and likes going to the movies and relaxing at the pool.

Who Wants to Stop Checking Pivot Tires? | by Shannon Peterson

A farmers’ work is never done. Smart growers know the off-season is the time to find and fix problems, to prevent in-season shut downs. They also know it is cheaper to maintain equipment than it is to fix it after a breakdown.

One of the likely tasks on your off-season list is checking the tires on your center pivots. Of course, you’ll be checking those tires again before the planting season, and during the growing season, and again during the season, and again, and again.

Checking tires takes time you really don’t have, especially during the irrigation season. As a testament to that, most flat tires aren’t noticed until the irrigation equipment stops, ruining the tire, gearbox, and sometimes the rim. And a flat tire means repairs that can cost $1,000 to $1,500 and downtime during the peak irrigation season when water is critical to maximizing yields.

So, while you’re thinking about taxes, budgets, planning, and off-season improvements, think too about a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). Recipient of a 2012 World Ag Expo Top-10 New Products award, Valley_® TPMS alerts you when there is a low-pressure situation and pinpoints the exact location of the tire.

The technology is widely used in the automotive and over-the-road trucking industries. A sensor on the tire’s valve stem measures tire pressure and transmits the information to your Pro2 control panel. You can see the information at the pivot point or remotely on your BaseStation™.

Identifying a slow leak before you get a flat tire lets you schedule preemptive maintenance at a time and location that is convenient for you, rather than fixing a flat in the middle of your field.

Investing in TPMS means you won’t waste time manually checking tires, which not only increases your productivity, it frees up some time for you. Although I suspect you’ll find other work that needs to be done.

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Shannon Peterson Marketing Content Editor Shannon joined Valley Irrigation in 2013. She enjoys traveling with her family, particularly to national parks, and she occasionally writes about her travels for Home & Away magazine. Shannon also likes reading, trying new restaurants, seeing movies, and watching Husker football and Creighton basketball. However, she and her husband spend most of their free time chauffeuring their teenage son to activities and chasing their baby daughter.