Columbus area at center of pivot irrigation

Farmers across the nation have a Columbus man to thank for a creation that revolutionized crop irrigation.

Frank Zybach invented the center pivot irrigation system. The system, which was patented more than 50 years ago as the “Zybach Self-Propelled Sprinkling Apparatus,” rotates in a complete circle around a stationary point.

It has changed in look and effectiveness since Zybach’s first attempts, but now the center pivot is used across the country and in other parts of world to water more than 81 million acres of farmland.

Zybach, who was an inventor, opened a shop in Columbus with A. E. Trowbridge to produce center pivots. In 1954, the patent was licensed to Robert Daugherty, owner of Valley Manufacturing in Valley.

Another man, Paul Zimmerer, founder of Lindsay Mfg., is also credited as an innovator who changed farming irrigation. Zimmerer made the first irrigation towline in the 1960s which made it possible to irrigate rough fields.

His sons, Arthur and Bernard, helped him develop the first mechanical irrigation system called the “Zimmatic.” The pivot was created in 1969.

The Zimmatic pivot has had many improvements such as the Uni-Knuckle span connector, which made it possible for Zimmatic pivots to handle steeper slopes. Another improvement was the external collector ring, which helped provide continuous electrical power, and a Zimmatic corner system that maximized field coverage.

Center pivot irrigation systems have also been improved through technology. There are pivots now that are operated using remote controls, and pivots that uses mapping technology, which allows farmers to create custom tailored irrigation programs.

Bob Snoozy, senior vice president of Lindsay Mfg., said center pivots have played an important role in agriculture. Pivots have helped conserve water, labor and energy, and made productive land even more fertile.

Prior to center pivots, pipe and tubes used for irrigating crop lands would have to be moved manually across a field making it a time consuming process. But because of the design of the center pivot, that changed.

The center pivot is made up of several jointed pipes that are mounted on wheeled towers. Sprinklers run up and down a pivot’s length. Water is fed through the pipes from the pivot point located at the center of the arc. The system is able to move in a circular pattern around a fixed point.

In Nebraska, Snoozy said the majority of ag land �” 5 of the 8 million acres �” are irrigated with center pivots. The reason why many farmers use the center pivots is because the systems are able to cover relatively large tracks of land without the labor needed by other irrigation systems, Snoozy said.

The center pivot has changed and will continue to change. Most of that change today is due to technology. Farmers no longer have to even leave their homes to irrigate their crops.

“When pivots were first developed you had to drive out to see if they were still running. Today you can use computers and PDAs (for operation),” Snoozy said.

Lindsay Mfg., which sells products worldwide to 80 countries, sells a Web-based irrigation management system called FieldNET. Farmers can use the Internet or their cell phones to control their pivots through FieldNET. The system also allows farmers views of each pivot, information on pivot location, pivot status and water usage.

The technology used in today’s irrigation systems is a far cry from the center pivots that Zybach and Zimmerer created, and, Snoozy said, irrigation innovations will continue to occur.

“The future for center pivots is an increase in efficiencies that gives the grower more time to develop other operations and spend less time irrigating,” Snoozy said.