The Irrigation Association (IA) elected three new members to serve on its 2013–2016 board of directors. Print and e-mailed ballots were distributed to all voting members in late September, with results tallied Oct. 11. The new directors include: Jeff Lanahan, senior vice president of John Deere Landscapes in Troy, Mich.; Chris Roth, president of Reinke Manufacturing in Deshler, Neb.; and... read more
The Irrigation Association (IA) declared the winners of the 2013 New Product Contest during the general session at the Irrigation Show & Education Conference, Nov. 4–8 in Austin, Texas. “With 50 entries, this was the largest contest we’ve had since its inception,” said IA President Warren Thoma. “This number says great things about the status of innovation in our industry.”... read more
For its third straight year, The Toro Co. was named a winner of the Irrigation Association’s New Product Contest, with its EVOLUTION controller holding up the streak in 2013 in the turf/landscape category. Toro’s Precision Soil Sensor won in 2012 and its PrecisionSense site assessment system won in 2011. The EVOLUTION controller, which is patent pending and lunched in the... read more
The Irrigation Association’s 2013 Irrigation Show & Education Conference packed the Austin Convention Center Nov. 4-8, drawing 4,000 participants and 315 exhibiting companies. “It was the first time we’d ever held a show in Austin, and it was a great central location,” said Steve McCarter, chair of IA’s expo advisory committee and senior product sales manager at Rain Bird Corp.... read more
Among the chatter about irrigation systems and products at the 2013 Irrigation Show & Education Conference this week, concerns over water restrictions due to drought also have bounced off the walls at the Austin Convention Center. Lack of water certainly isn’t a new conversation among landscape contractors, though. This week’s Throwback Thursday post from our November 2007 issue attests to that.... read more
