Irrigation still worth while

Press, 20 March 1987, Page 16

Irrigation still worth while

A Christchurch irrigation company, Mini Booms, Ltd, believes irrigation on farms is still economic and worthy of investment in many situations.

High value crop or livestock enterprises will certainly benefit from irrigation provided running costs are kept low, says Mr John Dugdale, a director of Mini Booms.

On many large livestock properties, the impact of a drought could be limited by sensible, strategic watering of a small portion of the property. This could involve irrigating key feed or hay crops, thereby reducing the need to buy supplementary feed.

The initial capital outlay was only one important consideration when looking at irrigation systems, said Mr Dugdale. Flexibility of the system to allow for diversification and minimal on-going 1 running costs were of 1 greater significance. FZ "Economic and sensible irrigation involves careful planning, financial budgeting and water budgeting. Then water needs to be applied evenly, exactly where it is wanted and at very low cost,” he said.

Mini Booms’ first irrigator was developed in 1982-83 from a desire to produce a machine which would be economical to

run, be light and easily moved, yet would operate reliably with very little maintenance. The Mini Boom irrigator has a travelling boom which wets a 40m path and is designed to irrigate up to 14ha. It requires a

pressure of 70Kpa to operate and several are operating under gravity pressure. The company was given a New Zealand Industrial Design Council Designmark Award for the irrigator in 1986.