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Andrew Albert, owner of Andrew’s Hay in Arlington, Washington, has deep roots in agriculture in the Stillaguamish River Valley. 

A proud third-generation farmer, today Andrew has one of the largest hay operations in Western Washington. Each year, he and his team farm an average of 1,500 acres of grass for hay and silage – as well as wheat, corn, beets, cabbage, and swiss chard. 

Like our founders’ family farm and so many farmers across North America, Andrew and his team rely on sprinkler reels and pumps to irrigate. And for generations, they’ve grappled with the lack of remote monitoring and control for their irrigation equipment. 

“Late at night,” Andrew says, “You sit there and think, ‘Is that reel in, or is it going to be, or did it stop before it was supposed to?’ If it had stopped, nobody on our crew would know.” 

Andrew started using FarmHQ on his reels during the 2021 irrigation season, and said the installation process was “easy.” Now, he says, he doesn’t have to wonder about what’s happening with his irrigation equipment.

“Everything is right there at your fingertips. I can look at my phone six times a day instead of doing six field drive-bys. Knowing you don’t have to sit in the field during a late-night reel change and knowing I have 30 minutes to have dinner with my kids or put them to bed, it makes it a lot more convenient. It’s a lot of time savings and peace of mind.”

FarmHQ and its real-time status monitoring and text message alerts have helped the farm reduce the number of flooding events in their field caused when a reel stops retracting. 

Last season, Andrew says, one of his reels was spreading manure, but it had low oil and shut itself down. With FarmHQ installed, Andrew was notified immediately and was able to quickly address the oil levels and restart the reel. 

“Spreading manure is a very delicate operation and if we hadn’t been notified, it would have ruined that field. We can get a problem with one of our reels rectified in 15 minutes when it otherwise would have taken hours.”

Andrew said the mobile-friendly app is simple and easy to use – especially the real-time text notifications and data reporting.

Andrew’s advice to farmers considering using FarmHQ? 

“You won’t regret it for a minute.”

Want to get started with FarmHQ and remotely monitor and control your irrigation reels and pumps? Click here.

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