Simplifying Irrigation, Conserving Resources

Efficient irrigation solutions have a big impact on productivity and profitability for growers.  Reece Andrews, product manager for Lindsay, said the time commitment for crop producers is intensive.

"I've done several clinics over my career, and really, number one, the biggest stated need is to save my time, usually followed closely by just make things easier, make life easier," Andrews said.  "And to meet those needs, Lindsey began developing innovations around what we call Smart Pivot Solutions that deliver unique time-saving features and benefits.  The new TowerWatch innovation, which is a Smart Pivot Solutions feature, figures out which tower is the problem, and this requires less skilled labor to troubleshoot that situation.  This then minimizes what we call ‘walking the pivot’ in challenging conditions, such as mud, heat, humidity, walking through a dense crop, and the strain of actually crawling up each of those towers as you walk that pivot.”

Know What Failed, And Where

Andrews noted TowerWatch monitors each tower with a small sensor installed in the tower box.

“This identifies the specific tower that caused the alignment fault even before you reach the field, so this can save a considerable amount of time," he said.  "What happens is, TowerWatch will report to FieldNET the tower number that faulted, and FieldNET’s premier service then sends an alert informing the grower, stating which tower needs attention.  Many of our growers operate a big mixture of center pivots from different brands, models, ages, and TowerWatch is designed as a cost-effective, high-impactful solution that integrates seamlessly with nearly any center pivot, regardless of its age or its manufacturer.”

Taking The Guess Work Out Saves You Time

He added having TowerWatch monitoring your pivots can reduce troubleshooting time by up to 75%.

“When you know exactly which tower caused the shutdown, you can better plan your field trip," Andrews said.  "For example, if I take an eight-tower pivot, as an example, and FieldNET says it's tower number seven, you're probably going to drive to the edge of the field and walk in 200 feet, versus going to the pivot point and walking potentially like a quarter of a mile, inspecting every single tower as you go until you get to tower number seven, it's like, ‘Ah, there it is.’ I had one of our beta test growers this season comment that when he got his first tower fault shutdown alert, and it told him what tower it was, he said he saved between two and four hours easily just on that one occurrence, and he only had to climb up one tower on his ten-tower system to correct the issue. It was a circuit breaker that tripped on tower number eight.”

Get Realtime Updates

As growers look ahead to 2026, Andrews has some advise.

"I just want growers to know that Lindsay's smart pivot solutions optimize crop management," he said.  "We focus on three things: monitoring, control, and recommendations. So, with FieldNET, FieldNET Advisors, you can check your pivots across your whole farm, control those pivots, monitor crop health, get real-time environmental updates, and irrigation recommendations. And now with Tower Watch, you can even save more time and make life even easier and less strenuous when dealing with alignment faults. For growers, to learn more about Lindsay's solutions, talk to your local Lindsay Zimmatic dealer and visit lindsay.com."

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail glenn.vaagen@townsquaremedia.com