Working Ranch April/May 2025

Irrigation Design

money every month. When you har vest your crops, the yield will be less than it could be. Good design makes for successful, hassle-free irrigation, and the opposite is also true. “I have eternal gratitude for those gentlemen who trained me,” Jim adds. “I consider myself fortunate that they taught me well so I could be success ful and be known as a good designer.” The Irrigation Association offers memberships for corporations and individuals and two certification pro grams for ag irrigation professionals. IA certifies irrigation designers in two agriculture specialties: sprinkler and drip-micro irrigation. Certified agri cultural irrigation specialists manage and operate on-farm irrigation systems. Certified irrigation designers establish specifications and design drawings for agriculture irrigation projects. Learn more at www.irrigation.org.

information to represent myself in court or enough knowledge to do my own taxes. Using a CID irriga tion specialist is the same thing. We don’t have enough information to do it ourselves.” Jim refers to the late comedian Jerry Clower when he discusses how he became a knowledgeable, experienced, and certified irrigation designer. “Jerry always said he backed into show business, and we like to say we backed into the irrigation business,” Jim says.”My trainers were some of the best. They taught me that an efficient irrigation system means water efficiency, energy efficiency, and labor efficiency. If a system is designed incorrectly, it will cost you

baseball analogy to explain it. You load the bases, step up to the plate, and swing for the fence. A pivot system means water isn’t a limiting factor in your management strat egy. But if you only install a pivot system, your yield increase won’t be enough to offset your costs.” How can a producer know if their dealership has completed a CID certification or locate a dealer with a certified consultant? “On the Irrigation Association (IA) website (www.irrigation. org), you can search by zip code to find certified individuals,” Jim says. “There’s a wide range of irri gation resources and information on the IA site. I don’t have enough

REID BROS IRRIGATION

36 I APRIL / MAY 2025 WORKING RANCH audited readers run 21 million head of beef cattle.