| 55 RURAL SERVICES » Plains Irrigators Ltd Ben Graham’s pivot. Plains Irrigators has its main branch in Ashburton with another in Timaru and sales and service depots running out of Cromwell and Rangiora. in the early days you had farmers with a lot more questions about all of that. These days they tend to have done their homework and not just about the steelwork but about all the technology we now have whether it’s Variable Rate Irrigation or FieldNet, the remote management tool, all the way through to soil moisture probes, weather stations and advisory programs” says Dan. The technology side of Zimmatic systems is continually evolving to assist farmers to make the right decisions in terms of when to irrigate and how much. “The Variable Rate technology means farmers can make their own management decisions whether they’re a large corporation running several farms or a dairy farmer milking 300 cows. They can make big savings too by not over or under-applying water. And it’s not just the new generation of farmers,” says Dan.” Even the older generation are controlling their pivots and application rates when they’re on holiday which they wouldn’t have been able to do before.” Many of the Plains Irrigators’ staff have been Ben Hore’s pivot. with them for over ten years. Their skill base has grown and developed in response to the changing technology and sophistication of the systems to include IT and design along with engineering and other specialist needs. Repairs and maintenance are a crucial part of the business for the farmers with the dedicated service team at the core of what Plains Irrigators has to offer. Having GPS’s installed in all their vehicles ensures ef ciency of movement between call-outs with less downtime. Another GPS programme brings extra precision to the irrigation systems they put together at Plains Irrigators Limited. “We’ve integrated our own GPS surveying system into our procedures for designing systems.” says Dan. “Which means we do all our farm-mapping internally so we can design the irrigation around the speci c needs of our clients properties without bringing in any outside surveyors. “We’re a one-stop irrigation shop here to help any farmer get the most out of what their water consent allows them to use.”
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