Gary Sands, Minnesota
Extension Engineer
Lowell Busman, Minnesota
Extension Educator
The management of water in Minnesota by means of drainage is vital to the state’s agricultural economy. Drainage has proven to be a popular tool for boosting yields where poorly drained soils predominate the landscape. Recent estimates are that nearly 100 million feet of drainage tile were installed in 1997. Tiling in 1998 was down by approximately one-third from 1997 levels. To date, an estimated one-half of the state’s poorly drained soils have been drained.
Drainage has become an important public issue in Minnesota stemming from concerns about water quality, hydrology and flooding, and economics associated with drainage systems. A groundswell of research and outreach activity has occurred over the past few years as a result of these important issues. This year, a major initiative is underway at the University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center, in Waseca, Minnesota. An ambitious package of water management and drainage research/outreach projects is being designed for the center’s Agro-Ecological Research Farm (AERF), shown in the accompanying figures. The AERF offers researchers a unique opportunity for water management research in that it has not been previously drained but has topography and soils that favor drainage.
The research and outreach projects will encompass a variety of design and management alternatives for water quality and quantity including impacts of tile spacing and depth; surface inlets; water table control on water quality, hydrology, and crop response; the potential impacts of edge-of-field management practices such as wetlands for water storage and nutrient removal; buffer strips; in-ditch remediation of nutrients and water retention structures; and wetland protection, restoration, construction, and loss-mitigation.
Many of these projects will be installed this year, as part of the Minnesota Land Improvement Contractors Association (MNLICA) Ag-land Drainage and Demonstration Workshop, scheduled for August 10-12, 1999. A portion of this three-day workshop will focus on demonstrations of equipment and installation procedures. Minnesota land improvement contractors are contributing their services for installation and drainage pipe manufacturers are contributing materials.
Figure 1. Drainage projects planned for the AERF.
Figure 2. Digital evelation model of the AERF.
The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
This page is part of the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department web at http://www.bae.umn.edu/