Center Pivot Irrigation - Center Pivot Manufacturers

Center Pivot Manufacturers

Over the 30 years after World War II, there were at least 60 center pivot irrigation manufacturers created in the United States. As of 2010, it's been reported that there are less than 12 U.S. manufacturers, of which five are major: Valmont Industries and their "Valley" products, Lindsay Corporation and their "Zimmatic" brand, Reinke Irrigation with their "Electrogator" machines, T-L Irrigation who make a hydrostatically powered system and Pierce Corporation and their "CircleMaster" products. Valmont, Lindsay, Reinke, and Pierce Corporation all manufacture systems powered by 480 volt electricity. T-L's variable-displacement hydraulic pump which is typically driven by a 480v, natural gas or diesel motor on standard quarter section pivots. Water application typically consist of brass impacts, drip tubes, rotating nozzles, or stationary sprays. These sprinklers are manufactured by Nelson Irrigation and Senniger Irrigation. Varying applications, soils, and crops require different volumes of water and application rates. Pivots often have a large bore impact sprinkler (called "big guns") located on the very end of the machine to aid in irrigating most number of acres possible. While these "end guns" may dramatically increase the irrigated area they suffer from poor uniformity and may have negative impacts on the entire pivot if not designed properly.

The largest maker of mechanized irrigation market is Valmont Industries. Valmont claims a market share between 35–45% of all new center pivots sold in the United States. Reinke is a privately held company which limits the ability for market researches to determine the exact number of center pivot sold. Reinke and Zimmatic compete to share between 30–35% of the irrigation market. Valley, Zimmatic, and Reinke manufacture modern irrigation equipment and consume about 75% and support networks of professional dealers. T-L Irrigation, also privately held, manufactures a hydraulically driven irrigator and markets throughout the United States and in more than 55 countries through independent agriculturally oriented equipment dealers (market share 25%).

Today, many countries use center pivot irrigation. By the mid 1970s Valmont began manufacturing a significant amount of irrigation systems in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, China, Thailand, Latin America and Switzerland.