Last of a three-part series

Fifth-generation farmer Greg Bingaman lives on a farm smack dab in the middle of the Grande Ronde Valley. The farm was passed down to his generation from his mother’s side the McDonalds. It is a heritage he is as proud of as that of his father’s the Bingamans.

"They both came from families that had farmed in this valley a long time," Bingaman says, "and they met and got married."

Young and progressive, in 1998 Bingaman was the first to put water on the McDonald home place, which had been a dry land farm growing grass seed and grain for the four previous generations.

"Dry land farmers are at the mercy of Mother Nature. One year you’ll have a good crop, but the next year you may not," he says.

So Bingaman decided the farm needed a well.

Now everything on the home place is watered from an artesian well so deep the water is around 100 degrees when it first comes out of the ground. The air cools it before it hit the crops.

"Water is a security blanket," Bingaman says. "With water you can control a lot of things."

But for farming to be profitable, it has become increasingly important to be wise with that water.

"I don’t think you can replace people with technology, but you have to use technology to increase what your people can do," he says.

Although the technology of center pivots provided some major advantages over hand and wheel lines for irrigators less labor intensive, better conservation of water and energy, and more crop options there was still a significant drawback in those circles of irrigated land. Dry corners.

Because, as Bingaman says with a grin, "farmers hate to leave any ground uncultivated."

Initial efforts to address the corner problem included using hand and wheel lines, as well as mounting a single sprinkler called an "end gun" on a boom attached to the center pivot’s end tower. It was designed to increase the irrigation span at the end of the field or in a corner.

Meeting the demand for more efficient use of irregular field shapes and dry corners, agricultural irrigation systems rose to the challenge by developing corner arm technology.

In the U.S., there are two major developers of agricultural irrigation systems. One is Zimmatic, with about 40 percent of the market share, and they manufacture the MAXfield corner system.

The other big manufacturer, with 54 percent of the market, is Valmont Irrigation. Their most current technology is the Valley Precision Corner Swing Arm. And with a dealer and a highly trained support team at PGG in Island City, Valley brand corner arms are mostly what is seen throughout the valley.

David Whelan with PGG says since 1991, there has been a large influx of corner arms installed, or added to, existing center pivots Valley and those of other makers.

"We’ve probably put more corner arms on than we’ve installed entire new systems," he says.

Following guide wires buried 30 inches deep, the corner arm receives a signal to begin unfolding, while the sprinklers come on in sets as needed.

Opening wider as the pivot moves through the corner, the corner arm operates under a variable frequency drive.

"The center pivot doesn’t drag the corner arm around," says Whelan, which he adds is a common misperception. "It actually drives itself."

With a span length of 205 feet and an overhang arm of 82 feet, Valley promises its Precision Corner will add water to more than 20 additional acres the center pivot won’t reach on a square quarter-section. For a rectangular field, they say, corner arms can reach both ends, adding as much as as 37 acres of irrigated land. Increasing production, of course, increases the farmer’s bottom line without purchasing additional land.

When Greg Bingaman went from dry land to irrigated in 1998, he took a look at irrigation methods before deciding to take the leap to a newer technology than center pivots or corner arms.

Bingaman went linear.

So far, he is the only farmer in Baker, Union and Wallowa counties to do so.

Even though the outlay was expensive, Bingaman says, "We didn’t go into this cold we ran all the numbers."

Before making the final decision, Greg said his father traveled to Idaho and Washington to look at linear systems at work there.

"The only really negative thing they said," he recalls, "was, ‘You’re gonna hate draggin’ the hose.’ But even that hasn’t been any big deal for us."

Although the linear irrigation system is similar in looks to a center pivot, it moves in a straight line similar to the path of wheel line. And like a center pivot, a linear also moves forwards and backwards.

The entire sprinkler system moves at a rate set at the control panel for the amount of water needed on the field. Bingaman’s system moves until it hits a hard stop set in the field that automatically shuts off the power. The hose is disconnected from the riser at that point, dragged by tractor to the next, and reconnected. The system is then turned back on.

"It takes one guy about 15 minutes," Bingaman says. And since the linear covers 700 feet in one set, it would take at least 10 sets of wheel lines at 60 feet per set to cover the same area. Comparing the labor and energy savings, he says, "Every time you start and stop the pump, it costs money"

To keep the linear from shifting from side to side, installed halfway across the sprinkler’s spans is a black box that uses radio signals to follow guide lines buried in the center of the field from one end to the other in "the straightest line in the valley, according to Rob Ray at PGG," Bingaman laughs.

The biggest problem of all track irrigation systems, he admits, is the rutting from tire treads. Soil erosion and getting stuck in the mud are both a real nuisance, so Bingaman’s linear system has two sets of part circle spinners installed next to each wheel tower to keep water off the wheels.

The package’s design pattern of alternating part-circle spinners keep the water away from the wheel tracks, the end of the road, and the motor tower, Bingaman says. It took some adjusting to apply enough water to the crop without over watering the treads.

Bingaman says the linear is a water delivery system that is cost efficient and yet provides good water delivery especially for the mint he now grows there.

"Mint is a crop that demands an even application of water," Bingaman says. "It does not like to dry out. The right water delivery system produces a better quantity and quality of mint like other crops, too."

Another advantage over pivot, Bingaman says, is that all the nozzles are the same size, assuring the field gets an even water application.

"From stem to stern, the application is uniform," Bingaman says with satisfaction.

Since farmers hate to see bare ground, the only problem Bingaman really had with the linear was the clear space he had to leave for a cart and hose path on the side of the field.

Next time, Bingaman says, he is considering a "ditch fed" delivery linear system.

"I have a field in mind," he admits, but with the frequency of blowing wind in the valley, Bingaman says the drawback now is figuring out how to keep the ditch free from dirt and debris.

Surely Bingaman isn’t the only farmer to come up against this challenge with a ditch-fed delivery system. The problem is probably already on somebody’s research and development agenda.