A new three-year $3 million Watershed Conservation Planning Initiative will help farmers along the Minnesota River address problems, such as sediment loading and bank erosion, and improve conservation practices.

Wet weather has prevented farmers in Ohio from planting this season’s crops. Only two percent of corn had been planted, well below the five-year average of 27 percent, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Wisconsin Farm Technology Days (WFTD) and Timewell Drainage Products announce tile drainage installation demonstrations in partnership with Wisconsin Farm Technology Days host family, and drainage contractor, Walter Grain Farms in Jefferson County, WI.

In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established a cleanup plan for the Chesapeake Bay known as the Total Maximum Daily Load or “pollution diet.”

Formed earlier this year, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste comprises multinational members from across the plastics value chain working together to decrease plastic waste. The Alliance has committed $1 billion with the goal of investing $1.5 billion of the next five years to help end plastic waste in the environment.

Editor’s Note: As land prices rise and sporadic weather wreaks havoc, interest for tile drainage bubbles to the surface in Western Canada, only to be slowed by regulation and lack of knowledge. Drainage Contractor asked Chris Unrau, one of the forerunners advocating for drainage and a streamlined regulatory process, to share some history of drainage in Western Canada and where the industry is going.

What is the public image of drainage? I asked this question to an audience of drainage contractors when I spoke at the 2019 Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario (LICO) annual conference during my presentation on social license for the drainage industry.

With the spotlight on surface runoff, contractors can plant riparian buffers in addition to constructed wetlands to minimize environmental impact.

Members of the plastics industry visited Congress to discuss how opening up federally funded infrastructure projects to include thermoplastic pipe can increase the elimination of plastic waste.

The 87th annual Purdue Farm Management tour will take place in Huntington and Wabash counties in Indiana over June 27 and 28 and will show producers innovation that can be applied to their own operation.

The world of building things has a massive people problem, writes Aaron Witt of BuildWitt Media, a marketing company focused on the construction sector. Retirements are accelerating, and there’s no new generation of workers ready to take over. Social media is emerging as a tool to help construction, mining and equipment companies recruit new talent. 

Iowa researchers, farmers, and conservation groups can apply for a grant dedicated to promoting more innovative conservation practices in agricultural production.

Tiling season is ramping up and some drainage teams are adding seasonal employees to help with peak season.

It’s been 40 years, but the theory hasn’t altered. What has changed is the advancement in drainage technology and a machine’s capacity to install drainage pipe. A new generation of business owners and machine operators bring new ideas, but the fundamentals remain.

Alaska is not likely the first state that comes to mind when thinking about land drainage. While commonplace in the Midwest, agricultural drainage is not a hot topic among Alaska’s drainage industry, but water management is key for the state’s contractors, and for good reason.

Persistent cold, snow and a deeper frost line in the soil is delaying winter, spring tiling activity in the Corn Belt. Joel Sandeno, Agri-Tile Inc., says the work season for tiling farm fields has been shortened this winter and doesn’t look good for spring.

Drainage contractors are completing erosion and sediment control certification training in order to stay up to date with best environmental practices. Here are some key takeaways from a recent training session and more information on the certification.

Installing a blind inlet filters water through layers of soil and rock before it enters the tile system, reducing the amount of nutrients, pesticides, and sediment that can affect water quality.

Continuing education is part of any career – including a drainage contractor’s. Agricultural drainage systems are complex. Contractors must pay attention to local laws, soil types, slope, environmental considerations and size, depth and spacing of tile.

I previously wrote an article about barriers to adoption of innovative drainage practices. Those barriers included risk aversion, practices of adjacent landowners, economics and local conditions.

Drones need no introduction. Stories about drones hover on technology websites and never seem to go out of style. But what value does this former “next big thing” bring to the drainage industry?

Roger and Louise Van Ersvelde are passionate about conservation and land stewardship on their farm east of Brooklyn in Poweshiek County, IA.

No official background in drainage or excavating stopped the now 37-year-old Bourke Sprague from building his company, Sprague Excavating LLC, based in Union County, KY.

Don Hodgman was lead foreman for a drainage contractor in West Concord when he set out on his own in 1982.

A new project examining controlled drainage on a slope is set to begin in Huron County, ON, this spring. In June, Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association (HSCIA) will install a contoured drainage system in a side-by-side trial with conventionally tiled and untiled systems on 47 acres at the Huronview Demonstration Farm near Clinton, ON. Part of the installation will be offered as a demonstration for public viewing.

ShoreRivers, an advocacy organisation protecting and restoring Maryland's eastern shore, received a $10,000 grant from the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation. 

An Iowa Water Quality Initiative pro­­ject in Sioux County has federal funding available that landowners and farm operators may apply for.

The Farm Services Agency (FSA) and the Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition (ADMC) collaborated to quantify the effectiveness of saturated buffers to reduce nutrient loading from tile drainage waters. This demonstration program builds upon this same group of collaborator’s findings from the 2012-2015 and 2016-2017 projects.

There are new projects in Illinois that would change the look of a field-tiling projet from parallel lines to a pitchfork pattern and change the way water flows from a field.

The Canadian government invests $181,593 of funding from the Canadian Agricultural Partnership to support a project to demonstrate and monitor contoured drainage on a field at the Huron County demonstration farm in southwestern Ontario.

Rice is a staple food crop of 20 percent of the world’s population. It’s also grown on every continent except Antarctica.

Iowa is one of seven states to receive funding for conservation efforts in new priority watersheds. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service recently selected eight Iowa watersheds for priority funding through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI). NRCS is accepting MRBI project applications through March 15.

The Bay Journal has released a four part series looking into the state-federal Chesapeake Bay Program and its progress to meet its 2025 clean up goals that will improve water quality and reduce nutrient runoff.

While phosphorus is a necessary nutrient in agriculture, it is a water quality pollutant that must be prevented from excessively entering waterways. One way to do this is by minimizing erosion.

ALICO member asked me for a definition of the term “sufficient outlet.” This lead to   a series of questions:

We all have our vices and I’m no different, although perhaps I’m slightly duller than most: one of my vices has always been history. You may not consider an eagerness to learn about the past to be a problem, and I would argue is it not, however my wife and children are beginning to view it as one. We have a lot of history here in the U.K., and plenty of historic places to visit (which my family tolerates as I force-feed them yet another free lecture about why this place is important).

For more than two years, we at National LICA became historians. The association embarked on a project, The History of Farm Drainage and the LICA Contractor, to identify the role LICA members played in developing farm drainage and its positive effects on the world.

Soil-conservation district offices statewide are open for the annual sign-up period for Maryland Department of Agriculture's cover crop program from June 21 to July 17. 

I am excited to assume the position of National Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA) President for 2018. This is the same position my father John held in 1999. Much is the same, but a great deal has changed since then. LICA is growing rapidly, largely through the benefits secured by Jerry Biuso, our CEO, and our close ties to government agencies through John Peterson, our director of government relations. Here’s a look at a few of the projects happening at the moment. Memorandum of Understanding with NRCSMany years ago, we had a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). It has since expired and the executive committee would like to create a new MOU representing LICA and NRCS today. We have established a steering committee to work on a rewrite. The relationship between our two organizations has been very productive since we have similar goals.The History of Farm DrainageLICA has embarked on a comprehensive project to publish “The History of Farm Drainage.” America feeds the world and the development of farm drainage systems has been vital to that effort. LICA believes it is important to have a recorded history of the drainage industry in which many of our members work.Bob Clark, president of Clark Farm Drainage, Inc. and past-president of LICA, is serving as the project chairman, with a goal of collecting relevant information from every aspect of the industry, reviewing and co-ordinating that data, and publishing the results in a leather-bound book which will be available through LICA.We are reaching out to anyone involved in the drainage industry – researchers, producers, contractors, manufacturers, educators – and asking them to provide any history they may have relating to the drainage industry in America, as well as where they see the industry heading tomorrow.All editorial submission should include the follow four items: Date: The publication will follow a time line. What: Describe the action, product or service. Impact: Describe the positive impact it had on the industry. Source: Identify the source. Please submit all editorial to the designated email:

Timmins, ON farmers are now growing more produce than ever before because of a new funding program that makes their land easier to farm.

If someone told you there was a tried-and-true product available that would consistently increase your crop yields by 29 to 36 per cent, you would probably pay attention. These are the estimated yield benefits for systematic tile drainage in Ontario.

Is it worth spending $1,000 per acre on tile drainage to get a $40 boost in crop production?

Ontario is the only Canadian province that has a licensing program for drainage contractors. By far the most agricultural tile is installed in Ontario, and the program ensures Ontario contractors are highly skilled.

Most growers on farmland northeast of Winnipeg, Man., expect to lose about 20 percent of their acres in a typical wet year, which can happen six years in a row.

I speak for everyone at the Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA) when I wish the industry a happy and successful end to their spring work season. As a drainage contractor myself for nearly 30 years, I know all too well that spring can be a challenging time for anyone in the construction field.

Here in southern Ontario, where Drainage Contractor is based, crop harvest will be complete by the time this issue arrives in your mailbox, and area producers – and drainage contractors – will be reminiscing about what was one of the driest summers on record.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspections can be stressful for contractors and are usually conducted without advance notice.

Fecon introduces the Tier-4 compliant BHP270 Power Pack for larger excavators (over 20 ton). This independent power source provides additional hydraulic horsepower to operate attachments like the Bull Hog mulching head without hydraulic flow from the host machine. While excavators of this size typically provide 45 to 60 gallons per minute (gpm), the BHP270 delivers up to 109 gpm of hydraulic flow for maximum power on the jobsite. This new fuel-efficient upgrade delivers a flatter torque curve for constant 270 HP output from 2,000 to 2,400 rpm, yet uses jut 7.7 gph at Duty Cycle. The Power Management microcontroller channels all power to the brush cutter, and there is no power loss due to accessories. This also improves engine response/recovery and sustained peak grinding power. New After Treatment (AT) components are located inside the “dome” on the roof, keeping AT heat separated from the engine bay. A larger fuel tank holds 91.5 gallons and is sufficient for a full day of work. Other new design elements include a new firewall inside the engine compartment to keep airflow from the engine side separate from hydraulic side. All hydraulic components are now on the left side of the fire wall. Airflow direction on the engine is reversed from previous version, with intake on right rear door and exhaust out of right side door. A Rexroth 145cc hydraulic pump produces maximum pressure of 5800 psi and hydraulic flow of 109 gpm. There is a new cab control panel with keyless start for more convenience and safety. The new display is brighter and easier to read. A new light alerts operator to tilt angle limits exceeded. An increased frame depth allows the addition of a stiffening cross tube to reduce vibration. For more information, visit Fecon online at www.fecon.com.

The HyPro Large Tile Feeder is a new product developed by Knorr Manufacturing Ltd. and Hypro Equipment. The purpose of Hypro Large Tile Feeder is to assist with installing large diameter single wall and dual wall flex pipe from eight inches up to 15 inches.

CHC Navigation announced the availability of its new i50 GNSS receiver, an all-in-one, cost-effective and easy-to-use GNSS RTK solution. GNSS RTK refers real-time kinematic, a satellite navigation technique that provides position data derived from satellite-based positioning systems (GNSS or global navigation satellite systems).

The 4” Flex Tap Tee, a product collaboration between Central Plastic Products Inc. and Fratco, is a new tap tee option for drainage systems.

AMW Machine Control Solutions Inc. has announced the introduction of its new AMW PIPE and AMW DITCH machine control solutions focused primarily on the agricultural market. These products are suited for agricultural water management applications where automatic drainage-tile installation and land shaping for waterways is required. Each of these new machine control solutions is user-friendly and runs on an Android operating system and CHC Navigation GNSS hardware.

Prinsco’s original Goldflex flexible dual-wall pipe was in development for over five years with millions of contractor-installed feet before coming to the market in 2017. Goldflex G2 is the second generation, re-engineered based on years of customer feedback and testing.

AgRePlan, LLC and GeoLogic Computer Systems, Inc. (GeoLogic) are announcing the release of an improved version of the GeoSite Manager System (GeoSite) and a distribution agreement between AgRePlan and GeoLogic.

Hickenbottom is expanding its inlet accessory line. After offering the Hickenbottom Silt Sock as a way to enhance erosion control, it has now created a quick and easy way to modify the flow rate of new or existing Hickenbottom inlet systems.

Fratco adds ProCorr to its catalog of drainage pipe. A pipe produced with high-quality polypropylene to ensure long-term use, ProCorr has been engineered to perform optimally under harsh conditions.

Trucks have never been more important to a manufacturer’s bottom line; not only because they are selling in ever-increasing numbers, but also because there just doesn’t appear to be a price ceiling.

American Augers/Trencor, a Charles Machine Works company, has released a large-scale upgrade to its 1400-series trencher line. The T14-54/617 trencher features a Tier 4 Final emissions compliant engine, electronics and customer-requested features.