Re: NNG = Field Irrigation.

A good rule of thumb is about a $1000 per irrigated acre. If that machine covered 160 acres, you might be looking at $150-160,000 machine. Sounds like a lot, but the useful life might be 30 years or longer, so lots of time to amortize the investment. In a climate like the San Luis valley, it is likely the difference between producing a crop every year, or every 4 years, too. Or the ability to grow higher value crops.

And as you mentioned, using less water and energy is a good thing!

Someone else mentioned thieves... when copper was sky high in price several years ago, there were many of these machines that were stripped of the wiring to sell at scrap yards. The usual culprits were drug addicts (and other people) looking for $$$. Newer machines use aluminum wiring, as it is lower in value and less attractive to thieves.