Howard Wuertz of Coolidge, Ariz.-based Sundance Farms has been named the recipient of the third annual Netafim Award for Advancement in Microirrigation, presented by drip irrigation leader Netafim in partnership with the ASABE, an international educational organization dedicated to the advancement of agricultural engineering systems.
Often referred to as the father of subsurface drip irrigation in America, Wuertz is a managing partner of Sundance Farms, where he works as a consultant for farming operations on the 3,200-acre farm. During Wuertz’s career, he pioneered the use of subsurface drip irrigation. In addition to reducing his on-farm water use by up to 50 percent, increasing yields and improving the quality of the region’s marginal soils, Wuertz realized that subsurface drip irrigation necessitated the development of special machinery for minimum tillage. He developed several implements that made it possible for driplines to be installed and used for many years and for a broad range of crops to be grown on a permanently buried dripline, eliminating the need and associated cost of annual removal and replacement of the dripline.
