Limitations in water quantity and quality are two of the greatest challenges we face globally today. We understand the importance of water in creating functional landscapes and recreation areas, as well as producing food and other crops. Therefore, we strive to innovate industry-leading irrigation solutions that apply water more efficiently to turf, landscapes and agricultural crops. We collaborate with universities, industries and communities to further education and awareness around proper irrigation strategies for enhancing and protecting our ecosystems. In addition, we provide product and financial resources to help nonprofits, consumers and businesses realize the environmental and economic benefits of water efficiency.
Golf/Grounds
- In 2018, The Toro Company entered into a strategic equity investment with GreenSight Agronomics, a leader in automated drone sensing technology for the turfgrass and agricultural markets. For golf course professionals, the system provides thermal mapping and detection analytics to improve turf health with less water, and reduced fertilizer and pesticide use.
- Taking irrigation efficiency to the next level, Toro’s comprehensive Lynx Central Control System combines access to real-time course information, precision control options, and convenience through mobile connectivity to better manage turf health and water resources. Expanded capabilities through the new Lynx Smart Hub, Lynx Smart Satellite and Lynx Dash provide even greater functionality and control.
- Advanced solutions in site assessment, like Toro’s new PrecisionSense™ technology, measure the variability of key site attributes – including soil moisture, salinity, compaction and plant performance – to help customers improve water and resource efficiency, and produce healthy, more uniform turf.
- Toro’s Turf Guard® wireless soil monitoring system measures and reports soil moisture, temperature and salinity. The real-time data helps customers make more informed decisions on when and how much to water, ensuring healthier turf without over or under watering.
Residential/Commercial
- Toro was recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with the 2017 WaterSense® Excellence Award for efforts in outdoor water efficiency and education. This was the third consecutive year that Toro received a prestigious WaterSense award. Over the past decade, Toro and nearly 2,000 other WaterSense partners have helped consumers save more than 8 trillion litres of water.
- The award-winning Toro® EVOLUTION® irrigation controller provides the perfect balance of simplicity and sophistication with its intuitive interface, USB functionality for future water-saving upgrades, and smart control. Wireless connectivity to Toro weather and soil moisture sensors enables each irrigation program to be controlled independently and automatically adjusted based on weather or soil conditions. Further, the SMRT Logic and SMRTscape platform allows EVOLUTION users to manage and control their irrigation from anywhere through a smartphone, tablet or computer.
- Leveraging Toro’s innovative Turf Guard® wireless soil sensing technology used on golf courses and sports fields, the award-winning Precision™ Soil Sensor helps homeowners maximise irrigation efficiency by preventing scheduled irrigation cycles from running when sufficient moisture is already in the soil.
- Toro’s patented and award-winning Precision™ Series Spray Nozzles and Precision™ Series Rotating Nozzles easily retrofit to existing irrigation systems comprised of all major brands. Both nozzle families apply water slower and more evenly than competing nozzles to help eliminate runoff and deliver up to 30% savings in outdoor water use.;
- Introduced in 2015 and sponsored by The Toro Company, The Water Zone weekly radio show brings together local, state, federal and international officials, water experts, civic leaders and technologists to discuss today’s water challenges and explore strategies for sustaining one of our most precious resources. In 2017, the Irrigation Association announced a partnership with The Water Zone to provide on-air educational training for irrigation and landscape professionals.
- With a focus on providing sustainable solutions in water management, Toro’s Irrigation Business received the 2014 “Sustainable Design and Innovation Award” from the City of Riverside (California). Presented to companies that exemplify excellence in green building standards, Toro was recognised for its efforts in optimising energy usage, conserving water resources, and using environmentally preferable products in site design.
- In 2009, Toro became a founding partner of the Certified Water Manager Programme. Created and managed by the California Landscape Contractors Association (CLCA), this is the first and only “performance based” certification programme for water management in the country. The programme provides the training and tools to enable irrigation contractors to manage landscape sites to water budgets set by California’s Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance.
Agriculture
- Toro’s award-winning drip irrigation recycling service is a result of an ongoing commitment to helping farmers maximise crop production with efficient and sustainable irrigation practices, including the recycling of spent drip irrigation tapes and driplines. The service, in partnership with Revolution Plastics, uses the recycled materials to make plastic can liners, and other agriculture and construction sheeting, rather than sending the used materials to a land fill.
- In support of the Western Growers Foundation and its school garden program, Toro has donated over 350 drip irrigation kits to schools in California and Arizona to help teach children the value of agriculture, growing vegetables and produce, and healthy diets.
- In partnership with government agencies and NGOs, Toro is helping smallholder farmers in developing countries adopt drip irrigation as a tool to improve food security, nutrition and economic development.
- For decades, Toro’s Blue Stripe® hose and Aqua-Traxx® drip tape have been trusted by farmers and nurseries worldwide to help increase water use efficiency and crop yields. Blue Stripe and Aqua-Traxx, along with our more recent BlueLine® PC heavy-wall dripline and FlowControl® premium drip tape, greatly improve water use efficiency by evenly applying water slowly and directly to the crop’s root zone. As a result, crop yields, quality and resource use efficiency are improved, environmental degradation avoided, and water waste minimised.
- Toro has published a library of drip irrigation educational material at www.driptips.toro.com, including the award-winning Toro Ag Owner’s Manual and Solutions Brochures for fruit, nut, vegetable and row crop applications – in addition to recorded webinars and podcasts available on iTunes from The Water Zone radio show.
- Toro Ag is a leader and active member of many organizations supporting efficient irrigation, including the California Ag Irrigation Association (CAIA), the California Irrigation Institute (CII), the Irrigation Association (IA), the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), and the American Society of Agronomy (ASA) among others.
- Helping growers identify the best system design for optimal water and resource use efficiency, Toro’s AquaFlow Design Software reports the predicted emission uniformity of a proposed drip irrigation system design, as a result of user selected laterals, submains, mainlines and flushing parameters.
- Toro’s Drip Irrigation Payback Wizard helps growers and industry professionals immediately view predicted cost savings and revenue benefits associated with the conversion from flood or center-pivot sprinkler irrigation to high-efficiency drip irrigation technology using actual cost and revenue data from crops throughout the United States.
