Pivot costs rising

By Cindy Snyder, Ag Weekly correspondent
Friday, July 4, 2008 1:08 PM CDT

TWIN FALLS, Idaho - Anyone thinking about a new pivot may want to place his order soon.

Pivot deliveries were slow last spring because manufacturers were pushing hard to fulfill orders for the Deep South. After a severe drought gripped that region, southern growers increased their orders for irrigation equipment.

Irrigation equipment manufacturers can only build so many units at a time.

When dealers from southern Idaho called to order units, they were forced to wait. Between that backlog and adverse weather this spring, dealers found the spring, center-pivot installation season was compressed.

“We kept hoping for the weather to change and when it did, the manufacturer said the delivery slots we usually get were all taken,” said Ward Toone, with Sliman and Butler in Gooding.

Even though the installation season was shorter than usual, he said the dealership installed about the same number of pivots as it does each spring.

That backlog for pivot delivery has mostly eased now, but Toone encourages producers who are thinking about putting up a new pivot to talk to their dealer about a contract. The cost of building and installing a pivot — from the cost of steel to freight charges — just keeps increasing. Cost of a new pivot has increased about a third this year.

“Just like everything else, the price just keeps going up,” Toone said.

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