Making every drop count

From space, it is said that there are three man-made technologies visible: electrified cities spread across vast continents, the Great Wall of China, and green crop circles irrigated by center pivots. This fact recently came to mind as we were flying across the Great Plains to attend the joint annual meeting of the National Milk Producers Federation and Dairy Management Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona. 

Center pivot irrigators are perhaps the most significant mechanical innovation in agriculture since the replacement of draft animals by the tractor. They reshaped the entire course of food production in America. In the early 1900s, before the invention, the region between the Rocky Mountains and the 100th Meridian — where the Great Plains began — was known as the Great American Desert. Today this region is one of the most important agricultural regions of the world, making it a key player in the global food supply. That is all due to the invention of the center pivot irrigator by Frank Zybach in 1948. Zybach lived in Columbus, Nebraska and held a total of nine patents for various inventions throughout his career. An interesting side note; besides the center pivot, he invented the driverless tractor. The tractor would plow concentric circles in ever-decreasing size from the outside to the middle.

Irrigation was traditionally carried out using various methods such as systems of ditches and canals to wells and pumps powered by windmills, and eventually replaced by gas engines due to technological advancements. Zybach, after witnessing the struggle to construct complex pipeline irrigation systems with gates, siphon tubes and aluminum pipes, developed the idea of a rotating irrigation pipe system. Originally, water pressure was the driving force to move the irrigator, which had a 600-foot boom, 15 sprinkler heads, and irrigated a 135-acre circle or an entire quarter section. In the summer of 1954, the manufacturing rites of the center pivot system were sold to Valley Manufacturing Company — known today as Valmont Industries — until the patent expired in 1969. In 1974, commodity prices exploded, resulting in a surge in sales of the center pivot system. Today, there are thought to be over 400,000 center pivots irrigating over 30 million acres of land.

Coincidentally, the man who invented the center pivot irrigator also happened to live on top of the world’s largest aquifer — the Ogallala Aquifer. The Ogallala Aquifer holds approximately 978 trillion gallons of water, which is similar in quantity to that of Lake Huron. It provides water for about one-third of the country’s irrigated agriculture. It is the most important groundwater resource in the U.S., lying under eight states including Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. This area is 174,000 square miles.

Many areas of our country rely on underground aquifers to supply precious water resources for agricultural production. Center pivot irrigators are used all across the country to maximize efficiencies in the production of commodity crops and feed for livestock. They have brought relative prosperity and abundance to many areas of the country. A stable water supply is critical for dairy farms, providing optimal health of both cows and crops, efficient milk production and quality nutrition for American citizens. In recent decades, conversations about our most vast and finite resource have arisen across the country. It was a topic of discussion about the Arizona dairy industry at the joint meeting as well as with producers we met from all over the U.S. Water is our most valuable resource for food production not only here in the U.S., but across the globe.

The global demand for center pivot irrigation systems was valued at $3.5 billion in 2023 and is expected to jump to $9 billion by 2030 according to PR Newswire in their global report on center pivot irrigation systems. Most of the growth expected in the next decade will be in Africa and the Asia-Pacific regions in response to population growth in these areas.

As we progress into the next quarter century, this is a situation that has a vast and complex history and no easy answer. As dairy farmers, we are no strangers to facing challenges head on with innovation in science and technology. Many dairy farms are already developing ideas to reuse water while also increasing the efficiency of that water. As these technologies continue to improve — plant and animal genetics, precision technologies and milk processing efficiencies — we will continue to develop new solutions that will further display to the world that we are the American farmer.

Megan Schrupp and Ellen Stenger are sisters and co-owners of both NexGen Dairy and NexGen Market in Eden Valley, Minnesota. They can be reached at [email protected].