Europe’s Largest Fleet of American 360 RAIN Irrigation Machines Is Located in Ukraine’s Poltava Region
Four American-made 360 RAIN irrigation machines have been operating at ROST Agro LLC for the past two years, making the company the largest owner of these machines in Europe. The irrigation equipment was supplied with the support of the U.S. Government under the AGRO Program.
This was announced by Maksym Bernatskyi, Director of ROST Agro LLC, during a press tour of the company’s fields held as part of the 4th Irrigation Forum.
«The 360 RAIN irrigation machine operates fully autonomously and is robotized. During a single irrigation cycle, it applies approximately 7 mm of water, covering an area of about 90 hectares. The hose is approximately 960 meters long. The machine follows a GPS-guided route with high precision based on a pre-programmed path, which is also used during crop planting.One of the key advantages of this machine is that it delivers water directly to the root zone rather than using overhead sprinkler irrigation. The special hose nozzles are designed for row crops, although they can be replaced with other types, including those intended for full-field irrigation,» Maksym Bernatskyi said.
He added that the equipment has a unique feature unavailable to large center-pivot or lateral-move irrigation systems. It can operate on irregularly shaped fields and navigate around obstacles such as neighboring properties or other objects located within the field.
At the same time, one significant drawback of the irrigation machine is its sensitivity to air raid alerts. Under normal operating conditions, it irrigates 90 hectares in five days. However, if air raid alerts occur during this period, the time required to complete the irrigation cycle increases.
Viktoriia Polevyk, AgroPortal.ua
