-Submitted photo from 360 RAIN
360 RAIN (above and top photo) applies irrigation water or diluted manure to the base of a growing crop throughout the growing season.

KLEMME — What if you could apply manure during the growing season to help feed the crop when it needs the nutrients?

It’s a reality on Brent Renner’s farm near Klemme, where he’s been using an autonomous application unit called 360 RAIN.

“I wanted to find a way to side-dress swine manure,” said Renner, a corn and soybean grower. “My goals are to spread less manure over more acres and get the same or higher yields.”

Renner has been using his 360 RAIN machine for the past two years. He has participated in a 30-acre trial with Iowa State University, plus he is using the technology on an additional 150 acres this year.

In early August 2024, Renner partnered with ISU Extension and Outreach to host the “In-Season Manure Application with Irrigation Field Day” on his farm. Attendees got an in-depth look at 360 RAIN, which applies irrigation water or diluted manure to the base of a growing crop throughout the growing season.

Not only does the technology help reduce nutrient losses, but odors are minimal as the manure is applied, said Renner, who drilled a separate well to feed his 360 RAIN machine.

Creating nutrient-rich

“million-dollar rains”

Developed by the 360 Yield Center in Morton, Illinois, 360 RAIN is a three-wheeled electric vehicle powered by a 24-horsepower diesel engine. The machine’s booms apply water and nutrients through Y-DROP-style hoses. Machine guidance is provided through RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) and communication through a cellular network that provides the control, coverage and rate instructions.

“It can drive to all four corners of my field, and it puts water and nutrients exactly where I want by the plant roots,” said Renner, whose machine has a 60-foot boom.

A 360 RAIN machine can apply hog manure, nutrients from dairy lagoons, or nutrients like UAN. A computer-controlled reel dispenses 3,000 feet of 3-inch diameter, flexible hose. As the machine moves, the reel dispenses and retrieves the hose, so the hose never drags on the ground.

At 0.45 miles per hour, 360 RAIN can apply more than 2 million gallons of water per week. That’s the equivalent of a half inch of rain over a 160-acre field from a well producing 215 gallons per minute.

There are roughly 100 of these machines in use across the country, said Larry Geerts, an Iowa-based regional manager with the 360 Yield Center.

“This machine can work 24/7 from germination to pre-harvest,” he noted. “It lets you create a million-dollar rain with tremendous yield response.”

Better nutrient use, higher yields

Research shows that the 360 RAIN technology can help farms manage manure better.

“The in-season nutrient application offers the potential for improved nitrogen utilization,” said Dr. Daniel Andersen, an associate professor of manure management and water quality in the Department of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering at ISU. “I’m also excited to see how this automated machine may save labor associated with manure management.”

In recent years, Andersen and his colleagues have conducted tests at the Northeast Iowa Research Farm near Nashua to study how manure application timing impacted crop performance and nitrate leaching to tile lines.

“Our work showed opportunities for improved manure use, if we could find ways to move manure application timing closer to crop demand,” he said.

When 360 RAIN was announced publicly in 2021, ISU researchers took note.

“We want to find better ways to improve nutrient-use efficiency, while reducing the risk of nutrient loss to sub-surface drainage,” said Kapil Arora, a field agricultural engineer with ISU Extension and Outreach. “Key aspects of 360 RAIN include yield improvement from consistent and timely watering, the ability to introduce manure or critical nutrients throughout the growing season past the V4 corn growth stage, and lowering off-season manure application costs.”

The 360 RAIN machine does a great job of navigating through growing corn, and the manure injection pump works well, Andersen noted.

In 2023, researchers collected soil data from their 360 RAIN trials.

“The plots that received spring manure applications had twice as much residual nitrogen, compared to those that received manure in-season using the 360 RAIN unit,” Andersen said. “Given the growth season in 2023, it was exciting to see that adding manure with some water enabled corn to take up and use the nitrogen. We also saw a nice yield improvement on the plots receiving irrigation water last year.”

Boosting resilience to dry weather patterns

Some pre-planning is required when using the 360 RAIN machine.

“When you’re planting, you need to map field passes so that 360 RAIN can follow your path and avoid running over corn,” Andersen said.

Also, it can be a good idea to dilute the manure to ensure you hit your target nitrogen application rates, Andersen said.

“Plan ahead to cultivate a water source, like a well or a pond, to acquire that water when fertigating with manure.”

The 360 RAIN technology offers exciting opportunities for mitigating methane emissions from manure storage by limiting the amount of manure being stored, Andersen said.

Also consider carbon credits. “While the carbon credit market is still new and developing, we see great potential for taking advantage of this to help fund technology like 360 RAIN.”

With 360 RAIN bringing innovation to irrigation, this machine offers some interesting possibilities, especially with drainage water recycling (the irrigation of tile drainage water back onto cropland).

“The 360 RAIN machine offers potential resilience to different weather patterns,” Andersen said. “With the dry growing seasons in 2021, 2022 and 2023, we’ve seen more interest in irrigation and its potential value.”

Some poor-performing soils with low corn suitability ratings (CSR) may benefit the most from this technology, Arora noted, although more research is needed.

Renner is optimistic. “This is a big investment, but long-term I think it makes sense. This is amazing technology.”