Center Pivot Irrigation

Frank Zybach invented a system that would revolutionize agriculture throughout the world: the center pivot. Frank Zybach was a farmer in Columbus, Nebraska who saw a need for innovation. The kinds of irrigation Zybach's contemporaries used were varied, temperamental, inefficient, or required large areas of surface water. Central Nebraska farmers did not have abundant streams and rivers, or dependable rain. The Ogallala Aquifer, however, sat just beneath the prairie. There was a huge demand for a high-quality system of irrigation using groundwater. Zybach got to work designing. By 1952, his prototype had enough promise to earn him a patent. Then, he and fellow Columbus citizen A.E. Trowbridge perfected Zybach's original design, and sold it to Omaha investor Robert Daugherty of Valley Manufacturing. Soon, farmers all over the nation--and then the world--used the center pivot. This revolutionary piece of equipment allows farmers to water their crops quickly, accurately, and remotely. Center pivots remain widely used today.