Centre Fed Lateral Irrigator with Chris Hesp

Chris Hesp describes his Zimmatic centre fed lateral irrigator. The centre fed design was chosen to reduce pumping costs, although the trade-off is the loss of 15m of production area for the channel. The lateral irrigator greatly reduces water usage compared to the flood irrigation in Chris's furrow block. It provides greater control over irrigation applications, has very little run-off or deep drainage recorded and can be used effectively on green cane trash blankets. The machine is 600 metres wide in 12 spans and travels 1.5km to cover a 100ha area. It can apply 14mm of water to that area in a 24 hour period. It is powered by a 150hp 6 cylinder motor, which drives a 6" pump, consuming 15.5 litres of diesel an hour.