Campus Units
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
2016
DOI
10.13031/IDS.20162490928
Conference Title
10th International Drainage Symposium
Conference Date
September 7–9, 2016
City
Minneapolis, MN, United States
Abstract
Farmland drainage is an integral part of Iowa’s landscape and plays a critical role in its bio-economy. Production capacities of Iowa soils can only be optimized with well-designed and properly operating subsurface drainage systems. Features needing attention when designing and installing a new system or retrofitting an old one include drainage intensity (spacing and depth), drainage capacity (size and grade), water quality and quantity management (controlled drainage, shallow drainage, etc.), and the economics of payback. Iowa State University Extension & Outreach initiated the Iowa Drainage School in 2007 to educate stakeholders on subsurface drainage concepts customized to the upper Midwestern states. Three hundred thirty-five participants, consisting of contractors, engineers, drainage planners, land owners, farmers, agency staff, and drainage district supervisors, have attended the school. All participants completing the end-of-school evaluation have ranked the school good (45%) or excellent (55%) and reported making drainage decisions on over 1,100 acres per participant. A summary of participants’ preferred methods of surveying and developing topographic maps, methods of determining drainage sizing and spacing, and developing drainage maps is presented. This paper summarizes the nine-year outreach efforts of Iowa Drainage School in terms of what students learned in the school, how they have used the knowledge gained, and how they have applied what they learned in the drainage school.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Arora, Kapil; Helmers, Matthew J.; and Brenneman, L. Gregory, "Teaching Farmland Drainage Design Features to Contractors and Service Providers" (2016). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Conference Proceedings and Presentations. 491.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_conf/491
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons, Water Resource Management Commons
Comments
This paper is from International Drainage Symposium, Paper No. 162490928, pages 1-6 (doi: 10.13031/IDS.20162490928). St. Joseph, Mich.: ASABE.