North Dakota State University: Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Dept.

My photo
Our project titled the "Effect of Optimal Water Management for Sustainable and Profitable Crop Production and Improvement of Water Quality in Red River Valley" is funded through the Sustainable Agricultural Research & Education (SARE) grant.

Friday, January 17, 2014

MN Drainage Conference (Dec. 5th in Alexandria, MN)

On Thursday December 5th  Dr. Xinhua Jia presented her research results from previous and current projects related to subsurface drainage/irrigation.  Dr. Jia presented these results at the 2013 Annual Meeting and Tradeshow held by the Minnesota Association of Watershed Districts (MAWD) in Alexandria, MN. 

In addition to presenting results/findings from her projects, Dr. Xinhua Jia, along with two of her graduate students (Kelsey Kolars and Kyle Horntvedt), helped to set up, explain, and demonstrate subsurface drainage/irrigation through the use of a couple 3D models which allowed the team and observers to physically change the state of the system to simulate field conditions (i.e. high water tables which induce drainage, low water tables which allow for irrigation, controlled drainage which helps to manage the water table at a specific depth).   The props were aimed to help landowners/farmers  better understand the principles behind subsurface drainage/irrigation and the specific properties of water which make subsurface drainage/irrigation such a success (i.e. the ability to manage the groundwater/water table).


Dr. Xinhua Jia demonstrating how the model works

Dr. Xinhua Jia describing how the water tanks (clear blue containers) represent a sump located in the field
Front view of two models used to describe/demonstrate subsurface drainage/irrigation
All smiles around the subsurface drainage/irrigation models

 

No comments:

Post a Comment