Ag Drainage Workshops Set

The North Dakota State University, University of Minnesota and South Dakota State University Extension Services have teamed up to hold agricultural drainage design and water management workshops at three sites in 2013.

The dates and locations of the workshops are:

* Feb. 12-13, Courtyard Marriott, 1080 28th Ave. S., Moorhead, Minn.

* Feb. 27-28, Best Western Ramkota, 1400 8th Ave. N.W., Aberdeen, S.D.

* March 5-6, Best Western, 1111 Range St., North Mankato, Minn.

The workshops begin at 8 a.m. the first day and end at 5 p.m. the second day.

The workshops will focus on planning and designing agricultural tile drainage systems to meet profitability and environmental objectives. The course content is taught in a hands-on manner with lots of discussion time.

Each workshop is intended for farmers, landowners, consultants, drainage contractors, government agency staff, water resource managers and anyone else who is interested in learning more about planning and design principles and practices for drainage and water table management systems.

Planning topics include legal aspects, basics of drainable soils, agronomic perspectives, doing your own tiling, land evaluation tools, and conservation
drainage concepts and techniques. The design topics begin with basic design considerations and progress through individual small-team projects, with several hands-on, problem-solving examples covering basic design and layout principles, water flow calculations, tile spacing, sizing and tile grades. The workshop also will cover design principles for lift stations and conservation drainage practices.

Registration for the three workshops is available only online at http://www.regonline.com/DrainageWorkshop. Due to seating limitations, on-site
registration will not be available on the day of the event.

The early registration rate is $225. Each workshop is limited to 65 participants. These workshops typically reach capacity quickly, so register
early to guarantee a spot.

Workshop participants need to make their own lodging arrangements. To reserve a room, contact the Courtyard Marriott in Moorhead at (218) 284-1000, the Best Western Ramkota in Aberdeen at (605) 229-4040 or the Best Western in North Mankato at (507) 625-9333.

For more information about the workshops, contact:

* Tom Scherer, NDSU Extension agricultural engineer, at thomas.scherer@ndsu.edu or (701) 231-7239

* Hans Kandel, NDSU Extension agronomist, at hans.kandel@ndsu.edu or (701) 231-8135

* Gary Sands, University of Minnesota Extension agricultural engineer, at grsands@umn.edu or (612) 625-4756

* Brad Carlson, University of Minnesota Extension crop educator, at bcarlson@umn.edu or (507) 389-6745

* Chris Hay, SDSU Extension water management engineer, at christopher.hay@sdstate.edu or (605) 688-5610