Apr 20, 2021

Valley Irrigation acquires PivoTrac to increase connected ag devices

Omaha, Nebraska-based Valley Irrigation has acquired PivoTrac, an ag tech company based in the Texas Panhandle. PivoTrac offers solutions focused on remote monitoring of center pivot irrigation machines.

“We are proud to welcome PivoTrac customers to the Valley family,” said Andy Carritt, vice president & general manager, global irrigation technology for Valley Irrigation. “As the market leader, this acquisition advances our technology strategy and solidifies our leadership position by increasing our number of connected agricultural devices to more than 123,000 – the most in the irrigation industry.”

In addition, Valley gains additional talented team members, as all PivoTrac employees will be staying on.

Karlyle Haaland, president and owner of PivoTrac, said in a news release he would never make a move that would not be a benefit to their customers. “PivoTrac customers will gain the resources of the most trusted irrigation brand and leading dealer network,” he said. “Valley shares our goal of helping growers do more while expending less water, energy and effort.”

Agricultural sustainability

Carritt says that each connected device adds to the cumulative, positive effect that Valley solutions are having toward the company mission of conserving resources and improving life. “Ever since we founded the center pivot industry, we have been advancing agricultural productivity, helping growers produce greater yields with fewer water and energy resources,” he explains.

Carritt explains that an average farmer drives 20 miles round trip for a single pivot check, so through the Valley user base of 123,000 connected devices, about 890 MT of CO2 has been saved due to the ability to manage pivots from anywhere at any time. Plus, compared to traditional irrigation methods, Valley solutions conserve 3.9 trillion gallons of fresh water per year, which is enough water to fill Yellowstone Lake in Wyoming.

“We have admired Karlyle and the PivoTrac business from afar for the past several years,” said Darren Siekman, vice president, water delivery and aftermarket parts. “But he joined forces with Valley for several reasons. First is our status as the market leader and our superior dealer network. But equally as important to their decision is our customer-first culture at Valley. We pride ourselves on meeting grower needs, and they share that commitment.”

“The future of agriculture is sustainable technology,” Carritt said. “More growers are trusting the resource efficiency and return on investment that technology provides, and more growers trust Valley to deliver the most advanced, reliable technological solutions on the market.”

Valley Irrigation founded the center pivot irrigation industry in 1954, and our brand is the worldwide leader in sales, service, quality and innovation. With historical sales of more than 250,000 center pivots and linears, and more than 123,000 connected devices, Valmont-built equipment annually irrigates approximately 25 million acres (10 million hectares) around the world.

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