Bridging Academia and Field Work

By Kris Polly

In our cover story this month, we interview Robyn Dynes, a principal scientist with the Bioeconomy Science Institute who was recently included in the King’s New Year Honours. She highlights trends and challenges in New Zealand agriculture, identifies the top best practices for producers to adopt, and explores the benefits of catchment groups. She also explains her role in brokering knowledge between academics and farmers: helping farmers incorporate research findings while helping researchers understand what sorts of information farmers really need.

After that, we learn about a wheel-line system that was invented by a clockmaker and improved over years of close work with in-field users. This combination of precision and practicality has made Thunderbird Manufacturing’s wheel lines a favorite in Idaho—and increasingly popular around the country and the world. Chris Nulph, the co-owner of Thunderbird, and Philip Reh, a longtime consultant who is helping the company expand, walk us through the advantages of the company’s products.

Then, we turn to eastern Oregon, where Assura’s dedicated irrigation district software has helped move Owyhee Irrigation District from paper-based operations into the digital age. Office Manager Krista Kinzer explains why the district wanted a software solution, how it found Assura, and what the solution does for the district—including managing and streamlining work orders, purchase orders, fleet management, and chemical applications.

Next, we learn about another impressive invention: 360 RAIN, an autonomous three-wheeled irrigation machine that travels through fields, covering all corners of even unconventionally shaped fields with irrigation water or nutrient inputs. Loren Weaver, a sales manager at the company, tells us more about the machine and invites readers to visit upcoming field days to see it for themselves.

Finally, we interview two Italian agronomists: Graziano Ghinassi, a researcher at the University of Florence, and Marco Pierucci, a founder and managing director of viticulture consultancy Agronominvigna. They tell us about the results of their joint study of the hybrid drip irrigation system invented by U.S. company Deep Root Irrigation and give us a broader picture of the challenges and opportunities for agriculture in Mediterranean Europe.

Several of our stories this month center on an innovative irrigation technology that is being proven in the field or in the research setting and can be put to use by producers across the United States and the world. It is a reminder that invention paired with ground-truthing continues to drive irrigated agriculture forward. Here’s to the inventors, researchers, and producers of our industry—may they continue their steady progress onward and upward.

Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and the president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.