The Toro Company’s Commitment to Water Use Efficiency in Agriculture

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While the drought in the Western U.S. has made water and resource use efficiency top-of-mind, Toro is proud of the various ways we practice and advocate for responsible crop irrigation. Below are some of the ways we’ve worked to improve resource and water use efficiency in agriculture.

1. Drip Irrigation Products: Blue Stripe and Aqua-Traxx, along with our more recent BlueLine® PC heavy-wall dripline and FlowControl premium drip tape, greatly improve water use efficiency by evenly applying water slowly and directly to the targeted plant’s root zone. As a result, crop yields, quality and resource use efficiency are improved, environmental degradation avoided, and water waste minimized.
2. Owner’s Manual: Our 113-page, 4-color Drip Irrigation Owner’s Manual educates row, field and permanent crop farmers about the proper layout, installation, operation and maintenance of drip irrigation systems. It is now available online or in hard copy; in metric or standard English units; and in English, Spanish, Italian or Chinese languages. Click here to view download options.
3. Solutions Brochures: Toro’s growing suite of case studies communicates the benefits of drip irrigation on row, field, and permanent crops in terms of yield and quality enhancement, resource use/cost reduction, reduced risk, and improved environmental conditions in the words of the growers themselves. In addition, our expansive collection of special topic discussions includes Typical Drip System Layout (including an animated video), Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI), The Advantages of Closely Spaced Emitters, and Micro-Sprinklers for Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
4. AquaFlow Design Software: Registered users may easily view the predicted emission uniformity of a proposed drip irrigation system design by selecting from a wide variety of laterals, submains, mainlines and flushing parameters. A color-coded Uniformity Map illustrates percent flow deviation from average, so that users can readily identify the best design for optimal water and resource use efficiency. Available in both online and download versions.  Click here to learn more about getting started.
5. Drip/Micro Irrigation Payback Wizard: After entering only five pieces of information (state, crop, acres, water cost, and existing irrigation method), you’ll be able to immediately view various predicted cost savings and revenue enhancement benefits associated with the conversion from flood or sprinkler irrigation to high-efficiency drip irrigation technology.  Click here to get started with the Payback Wizard.
6. Webinars: Toro Ag is a founding member, supporter, and presenter of the Grange Network, a group of agricultural professionals seeking to educate the agricultural community on best practices and technology adoption. Check out some of Toro’s popular webinars, such as Making Drip Pay, Subsurface Drip Irrigation (SDI) for Field Crops, How Irrigation Uniformity Affects Plant Health, and a wrap-up of the 2014 CII Conference.
7. Advocacy: We are a proud leader and/or active member of many organizations supporting efficient irrigation, including the California Ag Irrigation Association (CAIA), the California Irrigation Institute (CII), the Irrigation Association (IA), the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), the American Society of Agronomy (ASA), among others.
8. Published Papers and Articles: Toro regularly presents/publishes papers at industry events and publishes articles in industry publications to promote a better understanding and use of drip irrigation technology among farmers, dealers, allied industry, government, and academia.
9. DripTips:  Lastly, this website and blog! We hope that visitors take advantage of the many resources we offer here on DripTips to learn more about the many applications and advantages associated with drip irrigation for growers.