INNOVATION


CIT celebrates


After 40 years of irrigation technology testing and innovation, the Center for Irrigation Technology is just getting started.


40 years I


n 2020, the Center for Irrigation Technology in Fresno, California, celebrates its 40th anniversary. Looking back on four decades of irrigation innovation, it is


interesting to revisit the pioneering history and major milestones and events that have shaped what CIT is today, while taking a look at what is ahead in the future.


In 1969, an effort began with the goal of creating a national sprinkler test facility that utilized uniform testing procedures and published performance data. CIT was formally organized in April 1980 but can trace its sprinkler and equipment testing roots back over 80 years to pioneering work done by Winston Strong, EdD, who taught in the plant science and mechanized agriculture department for 34 years. In 1953, Strong established the Sprinkler Test Station at what was then known as Fresno State College, using the site of the future CIT labs to set out catchments to test sprinkler performance.


Today, CIT is built on a foundation of innovation and technology transfer focusing on testing, applied research and entrepreneurship to support developing and deploying technologies that will bring the world the most innovative products and resource management tools.


The control room of the CIT Sprinkler Testing Laboratory


22 Irrigation TODAY | Summer 2020


CIT has 18,000 square feet of indoor lab space dedicated to testing a wide range of equipment including sprinklers, pumps, valves, filters, piping materials, controllers, drip emitters and tapes, and couplers. Each new facility was a milestone that resulted in significant expansions in CIT’s laboratory and field services to provide independent third-party testing data on a range of technologies that can be instrumental in improving product and system performance.


irrigationtoday.org


By Charles Hillyer, PhD, and Kate Norum


Edward Norum and David Zoldoske inspect solar panels at the testing site.


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