
When they talk aboutsprinkler irrigation systems, the stereotype “the main country of the buyer is Russia” immediately pops up. But if you dig deeper, it turns out that the geography of demand is much more complex - here we have Kazakhstan with its arid regions, and Belarus with its growing interest in precision agriculture. Many suppliers mistakenly focus only on price competition, losing sight of the requirements for adapting equipment to local soil and climatic conditions.
A paradox has historically developed in the Russian market: while there is an abundance of water resources in some regions, in others - for example, in the Stavropol region or the Southern Urals - moisture deficit becomes critical. Local farmers have already gone through the stage of experimenting with cheap Chinese analogues, and now the demand has shifted towards reliability, and not just price. At the same time, there are still farms trying to “collect” system from different component parts - the result is almost always disastrous: uneven watering, frequent pump breakdowns.
It is interesting to see how the structure of orders changes. If earlier protozoa predominatedsprinkler systemsbased on drum-type sprinklers, now combined solutions are increasingly being requested - for example, drip irrigation plus sprinkling for different crops in crop rotation. This requires the supplier not just to sell equipment, but to provide agronomic advice at the design stage.
Case from practice: last season in the Voronezh region we were faced with a situation where the customer insisted on using old pipelines without modernization. The pressure was “sagging,” and the distant winged sprinklers were working at half capacity. We had to urgently add booster pumps - a lesson that infrastructure diagnostics should be a mandatory step before installation.
The main challenge here is not just to sellsprinkler irrigation systems, and adapt them to the harsh conditions of water mineralization. In the Mangistau region, for example, standard nozzles failed within a season due to high salt content. I had to work with the engineersShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,Ltdto refine the design of the nozzles - we switched to ceramic inserts, although this increased the cost of the system by 15%.
An interesting trend: Kazakh agricultural holdings have begun to more often request systems with a power reserve. They explain this by saying that they are expanding crops without a clear plan - they bought a neighboring plot, they need to quickly “include” it? into the existing infrastructure. Such requirements force us to lay out more efficient pumping stations and wider pipe diameters in advance.
At the same time, in Uzbekistan they are faced with the opposite problem - local farmers often save on filters, considering them an “extra element”. The result is clogged emitters and burnt out pumps. Now in every project we make sure to show calculations of losses for repairs without a filtration station - this is more convincing than any marketing presentations.
Modernsprinkler systems- these are no longer just pipes with sprinklers. In technical processesShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,Ltd, for example, special attention is paid to automating not only watering, but also washing filters - it would seem a trifle, but it’s just such “trifles”? determine whether the system will operate for years or months.
An often overlooked point is the compatibility of controllers from different manufacturers. I had to see how the farm bought “advanced?” Israeli controller, but could not connect it to Russian weather stations. Now we always clarify about data exchange protocols - sometimes it is worth recommending less functional, but compatible equipment.
Another nuance is maintainability in the field. Imported systems with unique spare parts can remain idle for weeks at the height of the season. Therefore, in projects for remote regions, we consciously go for simplification - for example, we use ball valves instead of solenoid valves where this is permissible.
The most common is underestimation of wind load. In Kalmykia, it was necessary to redo an entire section of the system, because with winds exceeding 8 m/s, the water was simply carried away to neighboring fields. We calculated a new support spacing, changed the height of the rods - the problem went away, but the additional costs amounted to almost 20% of the original estimate.
Another common mistake is skimping on drain valves. In one of the farms in the Rostov region, tens of meters of pipes froze and burst over the winter - the water was not completely drained due to the lack of lower discharge points. Now, in each object passport, we prescribe in a separate paragraph the procedure for preservation for the winter.
There was an interesting case in the Stavropol region: the customer demanded maximum automation, but the Internet was not provided to the fields. The system worked in semi-automatic mode, losing 70% of its functionality. The bottom line is that sometimes you need to discourage clients from using redundant technologies if there is no infrastructure foundation for them.
Judging by the applications received forhttps://www.lyzhihuinongye.ru, in the next 2-3 years we should expect an increase in demand for hybrid solutions. For example,sprinkler irrigation systemswith feeding through fertigation - this requires more accurate calculation of dosing stations.
Another trend is requests for systems with the possibility of gradual modernization. Farmers want to start with a basic configuration, but with the prospect of adding soil moisture sensors or analytics modules. This is logical in an unstable economy.
Personally, I believe that the main growth will not be in the sale of individual machines, but in complex projects - from design to service support. Just the approachShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,Ltd, which combines development, production and turnkey construction, is the most promising here - especially for new lands where there is no legacy infrastructure.