Discovery Farms programs to host webinar
Written by Jonathan Eisenthal
A multistate group of research programs that studies the impact of agricultural management practices on water quality is holding a webinar next week to spotlight its work.
Discovery Farms Arkansas, Discovery Farms Minnesota, Discovery Farms Vermont, and Discovery Farms Wisconsin will hold the webinar from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. March 28.
The event will highlight each organization’s research into the impact of agricultural management practices on water quality. For Discovery Farms Minnesota, which is funded by Minnesota Corn, that includes research into the impact of tile drainage on agricultural productivity and water quality.
Tim Radatz, who coordinates the Discovery Farms Minnesota program, said hearing from the other organizations could help farmers and researchers as they consider management changes.
[More: Register for the mutlistate Discovery Farms webinar]
Discovery Farms was founded in Wisconsin more than 20 years ago. Each state program conducts on-farm research into the impact of agricultural practices on water quality, with an emphasis on farmer leadership and peer-to-peer learning.
In Minnesota, the Discovery Farms program focuses on tile drainage.
Radatz noted that there are exciting solutions that help farmers maintain the right moisture level in the soil while keeping water quality impacts in check. One solution that has existed in various forms for a long time is controlled drainage, which utilizes a structure at the drainage outlet to hold back water for a crop to use later.
Recently, Discovery Farms Minnesota began a project at Farmamerica in Waseca looking at new controlled drainage approaches. The program will host a separate webinar about the project on March 30, which will explain where controlled drainage can and can’t be used.
Traditionally, Radatz said, the consensus was that farmers needed extremely flat landscapes for controlled drainage. But there are newer technologies that allow the systems to work with a bit of slope.
“Basically, you set up your tile design in a different way than you would conventionally,” he said. “You tile perpendicular to the slope, rather than tiling in the direction of the slope. They have structures at that outlet, that you can manipulate, to either raise or lower the water level. But then throughout the system there can be some buried structures that you don’t have to manipulate, that can give you some extra elevation gain, without having to manually control them.”
Discovery Farms operates with the technical and staff support of Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Center (MAWRC). It also has support from many farm groups, including Minnesota Corn. The University of Minnesota and many local soil and water conservation districts lend technical support to the ongoing research projects of Discovery Farms.
Learn more about Discovery Farms Minnesota.
More info
Discovery Farms multistate webinar
When: 9 a.m.-12 p.m., March 28
Good to know: This free webinar will feature presentations from the Discovery Farms programs in Arkansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Vermont. Three soil and water management certified crop advisor CEUs will be available. More information and registration info is here.
Discovery Farms Minnesota controlled drainage webinar
When: 9 a.m.-11 a.m., March 30
Good to know: This free webinar will spotlight Discovery Farms Minnesota’s controlled drainage project at Farmamerica in Waseca. Hear from the project managers and learn about the site, project monitoring equipment, and more. Register here.
