By Reggie Premo, UNCE / FRTEP

On Monday June 21, 2010 the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Duck Valley Tribal Outreach Program sponsored a Laser Land leveling workshop in the backroom of the HDC in the morning and out in the field for actual hands on demonstration in the afternoon. Randy Emm from the Walker River Reservation provided information on the process of field staking, survey methods, field design (slope and grade), how and where to setup the laser equipment, issues and challenges encountered while land leveling, and finally the end result and how it ties into more improved water flow and efficiency, higher crop yields, less labor in the field with irrigation.
   The idea of moving dirt to level land is very old. Although

in agriculture most of the time we are talking about putting a smooth surface with a specific slope on the ground. What is important with laser land leveling is that the actual surface finish can be controlled to very tight tolerances. A laser-controlled land-leveling system could be described as follows. A rotating laser light source (like a miniature lighthouse) is located somewhere in the field mounted on a tripod. As the laser rotates rapidly, a virtual “plane” of light is produced in the field. A receiver is mounted on the leveling equipment and connected hydraulically to the earthmoving blade via a control unit mounted inside the cab of the tractor. When activated the receiver (and thus, the blade) will “lock on” to the laser source, thus providing a smooth surface. 

 

   When the equipment, in this case a (Cat Challenger provided by the Duck Valley Soil Conservation District and carry-all scraper provided by Eric Bues) has to climb over a high spot in the field, the blade will dig in as the receiver tries to stay locked on to the laser source. When the equipment goes over a low spot, the blade will lift up, again keeping locked onto the laser source, and dump soil into the low spot. The system is not, however totally automatic, as in the case where a there is a very high spot in the field where the unit must be switched from automatic to manual setting to prevent overloading the leveling equipment that can cause engine stalling and/or damage to equipment resulting in costly repairs. 
   We did provide a field demonstration and allowed those present the opportunity to operate the machinery to get a feel what it takes to level land with laser technology. Randy was more than willing to provide this training and informed the few individuals present that if they needed assistance with their fields in the area of laser land leveling, he would be glad to help.