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Prior to Frank Zybach, traditional gravity powered irrigation systems were used on farms in order to irrigate fields. The center-pivot irrigation system came along and revolutionized the agriculture community and how farmers were able to get water to their crops. These systems not only expanded agriculture but also stressed the freshwater resources around the globe.

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If you ever fly over the Mid-West and Great Plains you may observe crop circles which might not be what first comes to mind when you think of farm land and fields. This specific pattern is due to center-pivot irrigation systems. After almost 100 years of dry land being the tell-tale sign of the Mid-West and Great Plains, the invention of center-pivot irrigation allowed the regions to be areas that could sustain thirsty crops like corn and soy beans and created an agriculture and economic powerhouse that now is known for sprawling farm land.

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Frank Zybach was born in Lafayette, Oregon.

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Frank dropped out of school in the 7th grade to help his father on the farm and in the blacksmith shop. From these early beginnings of metalwork and creating new gadgets, in his life he went on to earn nine patents. The first of these patents being for a driverless tractor, that he built in his teenage years, that was able to plow field in circles.

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Zybach noticed a neighboring farmer having to irrigate his crops by towing a long pipe with sprinklers across his field in order to irrigate his crops. This got Frank thinking on ways to create a self-propelled irrigation system.

By 1947, Frank had created an irrigation system that had two sections of pipes that stood on skids and were suspended by cables from two towers.

Then in 1949 he had expanded the system to include five towers with pipes running on wheels and had the capability to irrigate 40 acres.

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The First Patent started the Farming Boom of 1952

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The First Patent started the Farming Boom of 1952

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Thanks to his first patent of the driverless tractor that could plow fields in concentric circles, Frank was able to eventually add water valves to utilize pressurized water from the main pipe that in turn drove the wheels and maintained the towers alignment.

By 1952 he was awarded a patent on a larger irrigation system with a 600-foot boom that was capable of irrigating a 135-acre circle of a 160-acre field which just left the corners of the land dry. The patent was awarded for the "Zybach Self-Propelled Sprinkling Apparatus."

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A small farm equipment manufacturing company in Omaha was able to acquire the patent rights to the irrigation system from Frank. From there the engineers at the company not only improved the efficiency of the machine but also it's dependability.

Fast forward to today, the company is now named Valmont Industries Inc. and has become a global leader for center-pivot systems along with other agricultural products.

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Valley Manufacturing (now known as Valmont) became a publicly traded corporation.

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About 350 Valmont center-pivot systems were in use in Nebraska.

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Prior to his death, Frank Zybach was awarded the Achievement Award by the Irrigation Association Industry in 1973.

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The number of center-pivot systems increased to 1,100.

Between 1975 and 1990 the original patent had expired but thanks to Valmont, the systems was continuously being redesigned and improved from the original concept.

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Frank Zybach died in Columbus, Nebraska.

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All center-pivot systems in use throughout the globe had been produced in Nebraska by one of the five manufactures, the largest being Valmont.

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The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers marked Frank Zybach's first center-pivot irrigation location as a historic landmark in 1993.

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Now only four Nebraska manufacturers of center-pivot systems were in business and they were responsible for roughly 85% of all center-pivots world-wide.

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By 2013, Frank Zybach's center-pivot irrigation systems water almost 28 million acres for roughly 57,000 farms in the United States. These numbers show that it is the most used irrigation technology in the country.

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Zybach was inducted and became a member of the Nebraska Business Hall of Fame in 2017.

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Frank Zybach was inducted into the The National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2022 for the Center-Pivot Irrigation system along with his 9 other U.S. patents.

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Since the invention of center-pivot irrigation systems and the original patents a few improvements have been made. These improvements included an articulated arm to fill in the corners of the fields that could not be reached by the circular patterns of the center-pivot, applications of fertilizers and pesticides, straight line irrigation systems, 1/2- to 2-inch coverage rotations, GPS monitoring and remote control systems.

Thanks to these improvements roughly 65% of Nebraska and 42% of the United States farms that utilize irrigation in fields, are utilizing the center-pivot technology.

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Anderson, J. (2018, September 10). How center pivot irrigation brought the Dust Bowl back to life. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-center-pivot-irrigation-brought-dust-bowl-back-to-life-180970243/

The National Inventors Hall of Fame. (2022). Frank Zybach. Frank Zybach | The National Inventors Hall of Fame. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://www.invent.org/inductees/frank-zybach

Staff. (2016, January 15). Frank Zyback: A man who revolutionized agriculture. INEDA. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://ineda.com/blog/2016/01/15/frank-zyback-a-man-who-revolutionized-agriculture/

Wessels Living History Farm. (2022). Ag Innovator Frank Zybach. Agricultural Innovator Frank Zybach, father of center pivots. Retrieved October 1, 2022, from https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/water_09.html