Maybe today but with the rise of automation, who knows?

Center pivots are mechanical automation. They replaced traditional hand-moved sprinkler lines and automatically sweep the entire field at a defined rate. The concept is over 100 years old and has stuck around because of how efficient it is.

Unless we intentionally replace them with less efficient automation, it’s a hard sell.

It’s really more of a physics problem than an automation problem.

	▲	defrost an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Center pivot irrigation is hardly universal - its main use is in low / sparse rainfall areas in order to deplete the finite resource of the water table. There are already strong signs a number of significant basins are in terminal decline from agricultural use. There are no universal one setup suits all solutions here. One advantage of large scale agrisolar projects (trialled since at least 2020) is better moisture retention through shade of increased condensation drip. It's a balancing act - you appear to have a position hard up one end of a see saw.