EDITORIAL MESSAGE


Shiny & new M


y husband got a shiny new snow blower for Christmas. He — and the snow blower — are anxiously awaiting southeast Nebraska’s first big snowfall. “New” things can be such a joy in life, whether large or small,


luxury or inexpensive. A new truck, new shoes, a new baby, new friends, new ideas and even a shiny new year.


Each January brings a certain sense of hope, excitement and a blank canvas of things to come. This first issue of 2022 for Irrigation Today celebrates the new year with stories about new things in our industry, including new technologies, new products and even new irrigation companies. When it comes to agricultural irrigation, there is always something new on the horizon that can have an impact — either large or small — on your operation.


Check out the winners of the Irrigation Association’s annual new product contest (p. 35), new irrigation tech startup companies (p. 32-33), and the latest cutting- edge research and innovation related to irrigation system integration and auto- mation (p. 8-17).


Our goal with Irrigation Today is to give you information that is interesting and beneficial to you and your operation, whether it is about the newest technol- ogies available, grower success stories, best practices or trends in the industry. We hope 2021 fulfilled that mission and that in 2022 we can bring even more agricultural irrigation content that is valuable to you.


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survey. Watch f r a po a printed copy in email.


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If you have comments, suggestions or an idea for what you would like to see covered in a future issue, please contact new Editor-in-Chief Kyle Brown at kylebrown@irrigation.org.


The irrigation resource for today’s growers


Published by: Irrigation Association 8280 Willow Oaks Corporate Dr. Suite 630 Fairfax, VA 22031-4511 USA Tel 703.536.7080 Fax 703.536.7019 info@irrigationtoday.org www.irrigationtoday.org


Publisher Natasha Rankin, MBA, CAE


Associate Publisher Trisha Klaus


Editor-in-Chief Anne Blankenbiller anneblankenbiller@ irrigation.org


Creative Director Sean Burris


4 Irrigation TODAY | Winter 2022


Business Development Director Stephanie Clark


National Sales Representatives Tom Schoen Central U.S. tom.schoen@bock-assoc.com 952.905.3214


Tara Schelling East, West & International taraschelling@irrigation.org 215.588.5811


Editorial Committee Chair Diann Ilkenhons Senninger Irrigation Inc.


Editorial Committee Jonathan Aguilar, PhD, PE Kansas State University


Julie Bushell Paige Electric – Ag


Charles Hillyer, PhD, Vice Chair Center for Irrigation Technology, Fresno State University


Susan Hutton Irrigation Innovation Consortium


Karin Novotny Rivulis Irrigation


Sahil Sharma Lindsay Corporation


Kevin Stewart, CAIS Jain Irrigation Inc.


Contributors Reece Andrews Aaron Caughey Charlotte Decock, PhD Scott Dicke Coleman Garrison Franklin Gaudi, EdD, CAIS, CIC, CID


Mike Hemman Charles Hillyer, PhD George Oamek, PhD Jeff Tuel


This is my final Editorial message in Irrigation Today. I have taken on new respon- sibilities at the Irrigation Association, so I am passing the editor-in-chief baton on to Kyle Brown. Kyle has been the editor-in-chief of the Irrigation Association’s landscape irrigation-related sister publication for the past two years. I will still be involved as a managing editor, and I look forward to working with Kyle to continue improving Irrigation Today and expanding its online presence. Watch for more exciting shiny and new things to come in 2022!


Anne Blankenbier


Irrigation Today Editor-in-Chief


irrigationtoday.org


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