Happy Birthday to the Irrigation Association! As we enter 1999, we are beginning the 50th anniversary of The Irrigation Association. We have adopted a theme for the anniversary year, Reflecting Yesterday - Imagining Tomorrow.

Creating the future is what we are all about, but sometimes in life it is important to look back and reflect on who we are and where we have come from. During 1999, Irrigation Business & Technology will be devoting a column in each issue entitled "Reflecting Yesterday" to commemorate some of the significant historical events of our association and industry.

The Irrigation Association was founded in 1949 by eight industry representatives who were concerned about having a trade group to represent them in legislative issues, particularly material allocation during the Korean War. Originally the association was almost entirely devoted to manufacturers and large distributors of irrigation products supporting the agricultural segment of the industry.

When I joined the association in 1968, it was still a very small group with only about 200 members - almost a social club. Since that time, the IA has expanded to what it is today, a very broad-based professional association representing all segments of our industry with more than 1,100 members.

The change in the association, in many ways, reflects the growth and expansion of our industry. This change has not only been in terms of total sales and physical volume, but also it's diversification into other markets, including landscape, golf course, water features, drainage and water recycling.

Today, the agricultural segment of the association is actually smaller than the commercial and landscape membership sectors.

Although it is important to appreciate our history, it is even more important that we move into the future and continue to grow and change, both as an association and an industry. I think that "Imagining Tomorrow" is a very appropriate theme for our anniversary year because it directs us forward into our future, particularly with the beginning of the new millenium next year. We chose the word imagine in selecting our theme, because it exemplifies the open-ended approach of our industry to solving irrigation problems. Who could have imagined 50 years ago, how advanced irrigation technologies and concepts would be today?

Although our industry has grown and changed tremendously over the past 50 years, it remains in its infancy as far as the potential for the future. We have much to offer the world in terms of food production, the beautification of our environment, and improved water quality and recyling. Our future challenge is to communicate the benefits of efficient irrigation to end users and policy makers alike.