| 61 Two and a half decades in the game Ben Graham’s rig. Virginia Wright IRRIGATION » Plains Irrigators • to page 62 Plains Irrigators Limited have been supplying, repairing and maintaining Zimmatic centre pivot irrigators for over 25 years, expanding from their home base in the Canterbury Plains to having skilled technicians available throughout the South Island. As the systems and technology in use have become increasingly sophisticated their skill base has grown and developed to include IT and design along with engineering and other specialist needs; all part and parcel of their one-stop irrigation solutions shop. Business Development Manager Dan Stephens, the second generation of Stephens to run the family-owned business, has seen first-hand the changes in technology that can make such a difference to the way farmers manage their irrigation. For as long as Plains Irrigators have been operating they’ve been installing Zimmatic irrigation equipment, the brand developed out of Lindsay, Nebraska, in the Mid-West corn-belt of the United States. While the parent company may be American some of their technology, which is having the most beneficial impact on water usage and hence the environment all over the world, was developed in New Zealand thanks to two innovative young engineering graduates. In 2004 Stu Bradbury and George Rickets were working a summer job assembling irrigators in the Southern Wairarapa area when a conversation with local farmers Brian and Jo Bosch got them thinking about the problems that come with blanket irrigation which at the time was all the market had to offer. They could see for themselves how variable the soils could be, even within a specific paddock, depending on topography and soil type. They understood the need for a system that could recognise not only where water was needed but how much. IRRIGATE WITH CONFIDENCE - IRRIGATION SYSTEMS - REMOTE MANAGEMENT - PRECISION VRI 0800 PLAINS www.plainsirrigators.co.nz
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