C&F Irrigation is currently in the process of wrapping up work on a major irrigation project in the Chowchilla area at White Rock Ranch. The entire project has included irrigation installation in almond orchards and wine-grape vineyards covering 2,500 acres.

The first phase of the project began last year when C&F Irrigation installed a duel line drip irrigation system for the 1500 acres of almonds. After work was completed on that portion of the project, the company moved across the road and installed a single line drip system on 500 acres of wine vineyards. The third phase of the project currently has C&F Irrigation completing work on another duel line system for an additional 500 acres of almond groves. “This has been a very large project for us,” said Customer Relations and Company Manager, Eric Smith. “Most projects we install are much less involved.”

Company founder and co-owner John Farinelli has almost two decades experience in irrigation system installation. Farinelli employs state-of-the-art software to map fields and design the irrigation systems. Once the design has been completed, a C&F crew begins the installation process.  PVC transmission pipelines ranging in size from 2” to 24” in diameter are assembled. Trenches for these pipelines are then dug deep enough to provide a minimum of 3 feet of soil coverage.  When the trenching is finished the PVC pipeline is placed in the trenches and buried.

For the next phase of the project C&F Irrigation contracted Anderson Pump for the installation of six pumps, each yielding over 3,000 gallons of pressurized water per minute. All of the water must be filtered prior to injecting it into the underground transmission lines.  C&F Irrigation installed 68 sand media filters to fulfill this task. These stainless steel filters are 48 inches in diameter, each purifying about 220 gallons of water per minute. The filtration tanks are automatically self-cleaning, using a sophisticated system of hydraulic valves to reverse the flow of water through each tank.  This removes particles trapped in the sand in each tank, which is deposited into a settling reservoir. 

 

 

 

All this water needs to be transmitted to over 600,000 plants with no more than a 5% variation across the 2,500 acres.  This portion of the design is critical.  “The reason most farmers choose drip irrigation is the precision with which the system delivers water and fertilizers to each and every plant” said Farinelli. “This allows for an increase in yields along with a decrease in water usage, something growers really need in today’s market,” he added.  C&F uses state of the art emitters spaced evenly inside two polyethylene tubes running along either side of every almond tree row.  For the grape vineyard, one row of tubing suffices.  Seven gallons of water is applied per hour to each almond tree, and 1 gallon per hour for each grapevine.  The number of hours each system runs depends on the age of the plant, its crop load, and the time of year. A total of over 10 million feet of this emitter tubing was installed.

C&F Irrigation just celebrated their second anniversary September 1st. John Farinelli started the company in 2004 after working for another irrigation company for sixteen years. It was during this time that John first met Eric Smith, when the two men worked together. At the time of starting up C&F Irrigation, Eric had eight years experience in the industry. Farinelli had always planned to start his own company. The recent almond orchard planting boom provided the opportunity to begin the process.

“Getting the company started up was a real challenge,” said Eric. “This is a very competitive industry and we faced a number of hurdles in getting the company up and running. ” The company faced a wide range of challenges from getting set up with manufacturers to dealing with the cost and set

 

up of Workman’s Comp. During the peak season which runs from October to June C&F employs approximately 50 workers. “We typically are the busiest after the harvest and through December and January,” Eric explained. “Sometimes the weather during this time of year can be a real challenge to getting a project completed.

I’ve been in a field when it rained so hard
in just a few minutes I was stuck
there. I literally couldn’t get
my truck out of the field.”

C&F Irrigation is beginning
work on a project this month in
the Grapevine area. The project
will cover some 300 acres and use
a double line drip system.
The company is also starting work on
project in the Selma and Wasco area. C&F Irrigation is located in Fresno. The company has handled projects throughout the Central Valley area from Bakersfield to Sacramento and as far west as the I-5 corridor. “In addition to the vineyards we have completed irrigation systems for almonds, pomegranate and orange groves,” said Eric. “We have installed systems in just about every type of agriculture enterprise there is in the Central Valley area.”

C&F Irrigation has a full line of trucks and seven Ditch Witch trenchers. Among the company’s equipment inventory they have three 7610 Ditch Witch trenchers, two 3700’s and one HT25 which is used primarily for installation projects on vineyards. The company has a new Ditch Witch RT 95. The RT 95 has an integrated front cast weight that provides balance and eliminates the need for an extended weight rack. The machine can accept a centerline trencher attachment and offers two front-mounted backhoe options. It has a large 80 inch backfill blade with a

6-way adjustment and “float” feature that offers the ability to work much more productively. C&F Irrigation obtains their equipment from Ditch Witch Central California which is located in Fowler. “Eric Arica is the sales rep we have worked with,” said Smith. “He has been very helpful when it comes to getting our equipment needs met.”

After weathering the many challenges of starting up a company, C&F Irrigation is
a resounding success. “I really enjoy my
job,” said Eric. “What we do helps the
environment and I feel good about that. Seeing a field that was empty and then
seeing it grow and become something is
very satisfying. It makes you feel like you
are doing something positive for the
community and people who will benefit
from the food we irrigated. Cc

 

 

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