March 07 - March 09, 2023
524 S Shaw Ln. East Lansing, MI 48824

Do you want to learn about contemporary subsurface drainage design? What about crop yield and water-quality benefits of conservation drainage practices? What about making contour maps with the QGIS free software?

If your answer is yes, then join us on March 7-9, 2023 for the 2023 Drainage Workshop, sponsored by Michigan State University Extension in partnership with Michigan Land Improvement Contractors Association. Learn about subsurface drainage design and conservation drainage practices with hands-on exercises and design tools from university specialists and drainage industry professionals.

Why should you attend the drainage workshop?

• We offer a modern and straightforward approach to drainage design with user-friendly online tools.
• We offer training to make contour maps with QGIS free software (NEW in 2023).
• We offer a demonstration of drainage design software including AGPS machine-control software, and Trimble WM-Subsurface Software.
• We describe the crop yield and water-quality benefits of controlled drainage, saturated buffers, and blind inlet. We describe the benefits of mole drains.
• Participants can ask design questions of experts for their own property, so bring your contour map.

What will you learn?

The drainage design process will include basic design considerations and a step-by-step design procedure. Other topics include 

• Soils and water movement in soils 
• Surface drainage 
• Subsurface drainage principles and economics 
• Selection of pipe material: Which pipe removes water most quickly? 
• Making contour maps with QGIS free software (NEW) 
• Drainage design procedure 
• Legal considerations of drainage 
• Demonstration of the Drain Spacing Tool to maximize profit 
• Preventing drain sedimentation issue 
• Properly sizing the main pipe to avoid under-performance 
• Determining if upsizing of the existing main is necessary when splitting lateral spacing 
• Determining the Original Drainage Coefficient Used to Size the Main of an Existing System 
• Estimating system cost 
• Installation tips and safety 
• Controlled drainage design 
• Conservation drainage practices and water quality: Controlled drainage, saturated buffer, blind inlet, and shallow drains 
• Crop yield benefits of mole drains 
• Demonstration of drainage design software

Who should attend?

This workshop is intended for producers, landowners, drainage contractors, consultants, NRCS soil conservationists, engineers, MAEAP technicians, agency technicians, technical service providers, MSU Extension Educators, and whoever is interested in learning about drainage design and conservation drainage for crop production and water-quality protection.

Registration

Register early for a reduced price of $400 by 11:59 pm ET on Feb. 23, 2023. Registration price goes up to $450 starting from Feb. 24, 2023. Registration deadline is 11:59 pm ET on March 2, 2023. This workshop is limited to 20 participants, and on-site registration will be unavailable on the day of the event. Registration fee covers breakfast and lunch, and they will be catered by local restaurants.