This is the first article in an INRC series highlighting partnerships that help advance water quality research.
Read the others:
NGOs can play important roles to expand capacity, outreach
Collaboration is worth the investment
AMES, Iowa – Water quality researchers usually get the credit for their ideas and the grants they secure to study the ideas’ potential. Less likely to be acknowledged are those who help take the ideas from paper to practice.
“So much of our research depends on working closely not only with state and federal agencies, but also with private sector engineers and contractors to help get ideas on the ground,” says Bill Crumpton, professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Iowa State University, a well-known scientist who studies wetlands and water quality. “We work with them to evaluate planned projects, to tweak and test our ideas, and to find ways to improve designs.”
Association/LICA Farm near Melbourne.
Essential research partners
“Engineers and contractors in the private sector are essential partners in water quality research and practice implementation,” echoes Tom Isenhart, a scientist in natural resource ecology and management at Iowa State known widely for his work on riparian (streamside) buffers to improve water quality.
Charlie Schafer, CEO of Agri Drain Corp, is one of those partners. “Research is a team sport,” he agrees. His family business in Adair, Iowa, specializes in products that support on-farm management of water quantity and quality. Schafer has extensive experience working with researchers in Iowa and around the country to help bring their ideas to reality.
“I’ve been involved in applied research for many years, supporting academia, agencies, retailers and even farm managers. They all play a role in policy and practice,” says Schafer, who serves as board chair for the Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition formed in 2004 to enhance crop production while improving water quality outcomes.
These goals are no longer perceived as contradictory, according to Jon Rosengren, a project manager with the engineering firm Bolton & Menk. He oversees a variety of projects, from helping farmers improve the effectiveness of their drainage systems, to projects designed with an environmental emphasis, such as wetlands and edge-of-field practices like bioreactors and saturated buffers.
Rosengren, originally from western Iowa, majored in agricultural and biosystems engineering (ABE) at Iowa State. Since then, he has worked with Crumpton to develop new water quality wetland systems that fit more naturally into the tile-drained landscape of the Des Moines Lobe. He has also helped Isenhart experiment with modified designs for saturated buffers that can intercept and treat more drainage from farm fields.
Recently, Schafer and Rosengren joined Crumpton, Isenhart, and a room full of other drainage experts representing academia, industry, agencies and nonprofits at a regional Drainage Research Forum held this year in Ames. One of the presenters was Spencer Pech, a civil engineer and project manager on the water resources team at the engineering company ISG. His talk focused on working with researchers to develop drainage water recycling, a practice could make Midwest cropping systems more resilient to drought while reducing nitrate loss to waterways.
“It’s exciting to see this idea gaining traction as projects are being planned at a larger scale. It’s cool to be on the leading edge of innovation,” Pech says.
He grew up on a farm in northeast Iowa and also graduated in agricultural and biosystems engineering from Iowa State, where he had opportunities to be involved with similar research projects as a student. “My job now is often to work with researchers to take their initial design and see how it can work at specific sites,” Pech says. “It’s rewarding to take what the scientists envision and bring in our perspectives. In the process, we are often bridging the gap between the researchers, the contractors we work with on the ground and the landowners. I think we have an important and unique role to play in a project's success.”
Pech, Rosengren and Schafer all say they appreciate seeing more people think of drainage as managing water quantity to achieve multiple goals, including wildlife habitat and flood control. They also suggest that researchers could do more to study the economics of drainage and water management as part of research projects.
“Having better information about the benefits to landowners could help get more projects on the ground,” emphasizes Pech, whose degree included a minor in ag business.
The standard of success
The ultimate goal is seeing landowners accept and adopt better practices, Schafer reminded the group at the Drainage Research Forum. “That’s the real standard of success,” he said.
“We all have a role to play in that. Collaboration is more important than ever as we look ahead to see changes in the climate, and questions and opportunities related to storing carbon and reducing losses of phosphorus and greenhouse gases,” Schafer says. “Agriculture has an obligation to reduce its related off-site impacts, just like any other industry, but it has to be driven by science.”
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Contact:
Ann Y. Robinson, Iowa Nutrient Research Center, 515-294-3066, ayr@iastate.edu