Kelly Garrett looks over his irrigation equipment at his farm in Iowa. Photo via Netafim USA

Irrigation giant Netafim is celebrating 40 years of operations in the United States, distributing drip irrigation throughout the nation through its Fresno headquarters.

Netafim came to the United States in 1981 via Israel, from where its parent company, Netafim, Ltd. hails, according to a press release from the company.

Israeli companies have largely been considered the first to pioneer drip irrigation.

“Netafim was established over 50 years ago in Kibbutz Hatzerim, a community in Israel’s Negev desert,” said Mike Hemman, President and CEO of Netafim USA. “The struggle to grow crops in that arid and sandy environment inspired us to think differently and ultimately led to the invention of drip irrigation.”

Drip irrigation now dominates areas of the Central Valley. Subsurface drip irrigation is used on 100% of processing tomatoes, 90% of almond trees, 80% of table and wine grapes and 80% of citrus trees, the release stated.