The European Irrigation Association (EIA) awarded Valmont® Irrigation the 2014 Agriculture Gold Award for its Valley® Variable Rate Irrigation product. Valmont is the manufacturer of the Valley brand of irrigation equipment.
The 2014 EIA Awards ceremony was held during the recent EIMA International trade show in Bologna, Italy. The awards recognize the irrigation industry’s most innovative products or services for environmental sustainability. The contest was open to companies that have built innovative products, equipment, sites, projects and designs that promote water and energy savings. A jury composed of recognized international experts selected winners in agriculture, landscape, golf, DIY and project.
With a combination of hardware and software, patented Valley Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) customizes water application based on topography information, soil data maps, yield data, and other factors a grower selects. Based on a VRI prescription, water is applied where it will do the most good– not in unnecessary areas such as ditches, canals and boggy areas. Because not all fields are the same, and not all growers’ needs are the same; Valley offers two VRI options: Speed Control and Zone Control.
For growers who want to minimize costs, Speed Control uses a prescription to speed up and slow down a center pivot to achieve the desired application depth in sectors. Fields can be divided into 180 sectors with optimized water application throughout.
Zone Control is ideal for growers who want to maximize water application efficiency in more challenging fields, such as those with differing topography and soil types. Fields can be divided into more than 5,000 individual management zones with optimized water application in every single zone.
Also during EIMA, Philipp Schmidt-Holzmann, general manager of Valmont Irrigation Western Europe and West Africa, was elected to join the EIA board for three years.
The mission of the EIA is to improve the products, practices and services used to manage water resources and to contribute to the global improvement of the environment. To learn more, visit irrigationeurope.eu.