Variable Rate Irrigation

Control and better manage water use through your pivot or linear irrigation equipment. Valley® Variable Rate Irrigation (VRI) allows you to vary the rate of water applied across your fields to suit the needs of your crop, soil type and farm operation.

By understanding and adjusting certain inputs and outputs, you can maximise your yield, minimise key costs and reduce nutrient leaching and water loss.

VRI is split into three different types of technology, but all have the same aim: to create a more focused approach to water application to save money and improve your farm’s operation and environmental practices.

You can find more information on Valley Water Application Management click here

 


VRI Individual Sprinklers (VRI IS)

Adjust the time each individual sprinkler runs in any given area of your pivot field.  This technology allows you to create custom prescriptions (plans) in the Valley 365® web-based software, and load to any Valley ICON® panel to control the sprinklers and turn them on/off in a pulsing mode to reduce the water they emit from 100% down to 0% in increments to match your desired application aim.

VRI iS means you can save water and reduce its application on less productive land.  By controlling the amount of water you apply to farm tracks, for example, you can reduce maintenance costs and minimise stock damage around troughs and gateways.

By adjusting water application to suit variable soils, crop type, and stage of development, you can enhance production and reduce the risk of nutrient leaching and run-off occurring on sloping sites. 

VRI iS will give you more control during water restriction periods and is best suited to farms where clean water sources are available to prevent sprinkler blockages.

This Valley designed hardware is integrated with Valley ICON® control panels.  Custom prescriptions can be created on the Valley 365 web software, and sent over cloud technology to the Valley ICON control panels

VRI iS can be installed on new Valley centre pivots or retrofitted to a range of older ones, and can potentially work with other pivot brands as well.

For more information about VRI iS click here

 


VRI Zone

Divide your pivot into 5400 different control zones.  This technology allows you to set up 30 wider zones across the length of each pivot, operating at 2° ‘sectors’ (or slices) throughout your pivot field.

Valley® VRI Zone is particularly beneficial on farms with poor water quality as it will pass a higher level of suspended solids in the water compared to individual sprinkler systems.  Also useful for waste water (such as milk factory waste streams or municipal waste streams) and effluent distribution systems (either injection or under-slung).  VRI Zone gives you additional control over your pivots and provides a robust and reliable control zone which is not prone to blockages or fouling.

VRI Zone allows you to create custom prescriptions (plans) to adjust each control area.  Sprinklers are programmed to turn on/off in a pulsing mode to reduce the water they emit from 100% down to 0% in increments to match your desired application aim.

VRI Zone means you can save water and reduce the applied depth on less productive land.  By controlling the amount of water you apply to farm tracks, for example, you can reduce maintenance costs and minimise stock damage around troughs and gateways.

By adjusting water application to suit variable soils, crop type, and stage of development, you can enhance production and reduce the risk of nutrient leaching and run-off occurring on sloping sites. 

VRI Zone will give you more control during water restriction periods and can be retrofitted to specific problem areas of your field without running hardware from the centre of the pivot.

The Valley® hardware is integrated with Valley ICON® control panels.  Custom prescriptions can be loaded from the Valley 365® web based software directly to your Valley control panel.

VRI Zone is compatible with a range of new and old Valley centre pivots and can potentially work with other pivot brands as well.


VRI Speed

This is an easy-to-use system for programming your Valley® pivot to operate at up to 180 different speeds through the pivot’s rotation.  Altering the speed of your pivot’s path can help promote crop growth and achieve big water savings.

Using Valleys ICON control panels, or even the older Pro2/Select 2 control panels alongside the Valley 365® web based platform allows easy creation and loading of simple speed control plans.

VRI Speed gives you the ability to alter pivot speeds to suit your crop types or soil variation without the added expense of the hardware required for VRI iS or VRI Zone.

It’s a low cost option and ideal for all farms who want to vary water application rates over differing soil types and crops but who don’t require additional control over their sprinklers.


VRI-EAC

Exclusion area control - For hard to distribute liquids like farm waste and effluent.  WaterForce has evolved Valleys field proven VRI-Z to be utilised to control your pivot underslung effluent distribution systems.  Exclusion area control under-slung systems are isolated to restrict effluent application throughout the pivot circle all through your Valley ICON® control panels. 

The system is retrofit-able and scale-able to suit your system.  VRI-EAC is suitable for use on underslung systems utilising guns, pot sprays and multi sprinkler systems. Here is our link to underslung.