Congratulations to the Carrfields Irrigation business which has won the 2016 IrrigationNZ Innovation Award in association with Aqualinc for its HydroFix Irrigator Stabliser System (HydroFix).

The HydroFix innovation originated from a request by clients of the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) who asked for help following 2013’s gale force wind event that damaged more than 800 irrigators across Canterbury. The loss of irrigation systems for several months caused major losses of production for farmers and the cost of repairs was estimated in the millions of dollars.

The University of Canterbury’s Mechanical Engineering Department assisted with an engineering design to stabilise irrigators and a patented solution was developed by FAR and the University.  This was in turn licensed to Carrfields Irrigation for further enhancement and commercialisation.  Ben Wright, part of the original study team at Canterbury University, is now working with Carrfields Irrigation as a Sales and Design Engineer.

Developed with local conditions in mind, the HydroFix system consists of a series of inflatable water bags connected to a pulley and counterweight systems along the length of an irrigator. On arrival of a major wind event, the turn of a tap fills the bags with water and lowers them to the ground to secure the irrigator at the centre of each span. When the wind danger has passed, the water bags are drained and raised back to an activation storage position.

As our business grows and the New Zealand agri landscape changes, we are forever on the lookout for new and innovative ways to enhance our customer service and deliver an overall better experience for our clients.  Carrfields Irrigation is a great example of collaboration, team work and delivering on innovative customer solutions.