The team at 360 Yield Center continues to develop new ways for producers to nurture their crops.
Farm Progress Show Interview: Gregg Sauder, President of 360 Yield Center
At the 2021 Farm Progress Show, 360 Yield Center?s main display features its new product 360 RAIN, a three-wheeled electric vehicle that uses field-proven components from the irrigation industry including a tire and galvanized metal frame. Guidance is provided through RTK and communication through a cellular network that provides the control, coverage and rate instructions.
According to 360 Yield Center Founder and President Gregg Sauder, 360 RAIN provides advantages over traditional irrigation methods.
?We?re looking at technology that?s autonomous like an irrigator,? said Sauder. ?It runs and follows a planter pass. It?s watering either 24 rows or 120 rows at a time. It?s low gallons per limit requirement. Most growers ? whether they are in Iowa or Illinois ? can?t get 700 to 800 gallon a minute. We?re looking for 100 to 250 gallon a minute. We?re coming into the field and we?re asking to put out a half inch a week. The future of this technology is really good because we?re talking about having as much as direct injection herbicide, insecticide and fungicide in the future.?
With a 60-foot boom, 360 RAIN applies water through Y-DROP style hoses. Up to 2,900 feet of three-inch diameter hose is dispensed by a computer-controlled reel. The machine moves up and down the crop rows as the well-tethered reel dispenses and retrieves hose.
Sauder says that at 0.45 miles per hour, 360 RAIN can apply over 2 million gallons of water per week ? the equivalent of one inch of rain over an 80-acre field from a well producing just 215 gallons per minute.
?Once we?re in the field ? and it?s following the planter ? there?s a ton of things we can do,? said Sauder. ?Manure alone is driving such interest with this. This machine has a three-inch line on it ? 3,000 feet. It?s hooked directly to a hydrant or a well. Wherever it goes, it?s laying hose and picking up hose. But you start thinking about injecting nitrogen, sulfur, or hog manure and cattle manure, that future becomes really interesting in crop production.?
360 RAIN can water irregular shaped fields that do not fit typical center pivot systems. The RAIN system also provides 100% field coverage ? no special equipment needed to cover the corners that are typical to center pivot fields.
Learn more by visiting 360yieldcenter.com.
