In response to the environmental cost of intensive center pivot irrigation, this proposal introduces a companion policy: a legal framework that designates the residual corner lands between center pivot systems as ecological reserves, restoring 21% of land otherwise excluded from the irrigation grid.
These leftover corners become sites of ecological repair. Through native planting, water filtration and collection, and habitat support, the land begins to recall its pre-irrigation ecosystems. Each corner is gradually surveyed and marked with multi-functional corner reflectors—visible in satellite and radar imagery—signaling a new form of land acknowledgment.
A team of surveyors and farmers travels with a temporary pavilion, moving from site to site across the High Plains, occupying one fallow center pivot system for six months at a time. The pavilion provides shade structures and large-scale signage to promote awareness and advocate for change. It is also the billboard of our planetary world’s fair.
