Last November, the Irrigation Association held its annual Irrigation Show and Education Conference in Long Beach, California, with over 4,500 participants and 300 exhibiting companies.
The Irrigation Show is the only national trade show for the irrigation industry and serves as the perfect backdrop for professionals to see the latest industry technologies, conduct business, learn best practices and network with peers. The Irrigation Association and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers held the 2015 Irrigation Symposium in conjunction with the annual Irrigation Show and Education Conference. The event included a poster session on the show floor and more than 50 peer-reviewed papers with presentations on a wide range of topics in agricultural and landscape irrigation, such as: Evapotranspiration, ground-based and remote
sensing for irrigation, spatial irrigation management with center pivots, deficit irrigation strategies, irrigation management with variable rate irrigation systems, microirrigation for improving production and reducing environmental concerns, irrigation controllers and sensors, irrigation scheduling and management and sustainability. IA also offered more than 20 different agriculture,
turf/landscape and business education classes, in addition to landscape irrigation seminars for contractors. Attendees earned IA continuing education units for all training classes held at the
show. In the coming months, select seminars will be available for purchase in the IA store. Finally, IA offered certification exams for irrigation technicians, contractors, auditors, designers and water managers throughout the week. More than 130 industry professionals sat for an exam on-site at the show.
The Irrigation Association announced the winners of the 2015 new product contest during the general session, on 12th November, at the Irrigation Show and Education Conference in Long Beach, Calif. The annual contest highlights inno vative products introduced to the market in the last year in four categories: agriculture irrigation, land scape irrigation, landscape lighting and specialty section.
Each entry was judged on innovative and/or improved qualities, increased water efficiency, ease of use, cost benefits, time savings and design quality.
A panel of industry experts selected a winner in each category:
• Agriculture Irrigation: Nelson Irrigation Corporation’s 3 NV Nozzle System for the 3030 Series Pivot Sprinklers
• Landscape Irrigation: Aqualone’s Aqualone
• Landscape Lighting: FX Luminaire’s Luxor ZDC
• Specialty : Outpost Central Ltd.’s Wildeye Soil Moisture Monitoring
This year’s show also welcomed back the popular people’s choice category. 2015 people’s choice winners are:
• Agriculture Irrigation: Netafim USA’s Precision Mobile Drip System
• Irrigation, Landscape Irrigation: Hydro-Rain Inc’s PVC-Lock Push-Fit Valve
• Landscape Lighting: FX Luminaire’s Luxor ZDC
• Specialty: Pro Products’ NatureShield All Natural Pest Repellant.
Planning for the 2016 Irrigation Show, on 5th to 9th December, in Las Vegas, is already underway. IA will partner with the National Ground Water Association for this event.