Kapil Arora, Field Agriculture Engineer, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Batch and Build Workshops, May 22, 2026

On our program today, we're going to take time to visit with Kapil Arora, Field Ag Engineer, ISU Extension Outreach. Kapil, thanks for joining us. Good morning Jim, and thanks for having me on here today. We've got every time we start to get some some sort of a workshop or something going on, a lot of times I get reminders from Kapil. I said, you know, we want people to know about this, and the big one you got coming up now, and this we talked a little bit about in the beginning, it's the issues that are going on for producers this time of the year. Again, some of it is drainage, and then the other party is my losing my product, and is it washing away, and then water quality for other people. The big issue, water quality, so still gets back to, they both go together, don't they? Yes, they are hand-in-hand, and water quality again is a question that comes up repeatedly, and we all are doing our due diligence to address it. Drainage is needed in Iowa just for having a good productive farm ground, and when it gets down to the least denominator or the last question, do we want drainage? With the answer is, yeah, we need it, but with that comes the question of are we losing any nutrients with it, and how do we address that nutrient loss? So the water quality question becomes more important along with that, and you have the option to do either infield practices that can help hold on to some of this nutrient loss that may happen. We can do things like shallow drainage, where we don't put tiles as deep, but there is a limitation based on soil types, because you still have to put them deep enough so the top two to three feet dries out and is able to support the equipment weight on it. We can do cover crops during off season, which can help hold both water and nutrients back in the soil. We can also do control drainage, where we can actually put control structures, but control structures are highly dependent on the slope, because they work very good if you have large fields that are relatively flat, because then one control structure can control quite a bit of ground, and Illinois does that very effectively, like one control structure going all the way back and controlling 300, 400 acres. We don't have that luxury here. So there are edge of field practices. We have our limitation on the infield practices, but then there are edge of field practices, and these are saturated buffers, wood chip bioreactors, small watershed wetlands, oxbows. All of these practices can actually treat nitrates and reduce both the mass and the concentration of nitrates, leaving our farmfields. Well, one of the things that's coming up is batch and build workshops. I saw the press release on it. I'm going, oh, this sounds interesting. And that's really what we're going to be talking about. We do have a couple of these workshops coming up, really only two. One's going to be in Webster County up at Fort Dodge. The other will be over in Lynn County, and they're going to be fairly early here in June. Yes, we are talking June 16th in Fort Dodge and June 18th in High Water, which is just on the north end of Cedar Rapids. So a lot of this is about the do's and don'ts, I guess, of constructing bioreactors or things like that, I'm guessing. Yes, so once the design is done by the engineers and is all approved, the project now is ready to move forward. And the way I have a Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship as well as our USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service are moving forward is they're trying to put few projects together so that it's a bigger amount of dollars, so to speak. It's a bigger contract rather than just a small contract. So they're putting two, three, four projects together. So a little bigger impact for the dollars that are paying for their buck. Yes, and that also reduces the amount of work that each project has to go through within the internal system. So that's why they are calling it Batch, where projects are batched together and the project is let out. But we're trying to get more people to start... To do the work, right? To start bidding these projects and do the work. We need existing drainage contractors to start looking into this a lot more carefully because now this can actually give them new business. Once you get past the spraying and the fields have dried out, so you could be working on the edges of the fields and putting some of these practices in. And then you get to harvest and then you are ready to do your tiling work again, but you get this opportunity of couple months that you otherwise may not have been busy or were planning. Now you can keep your crew busy doing some of these practices. There are farmers out there. I know they have equipment and I'm putting this thing out for them as well as a carrot that this is some additional work that they can learn and they can actually do and get some money off of these business opportunities as well. So overall we are wanting more and more of these practices out there. There is funding behind it. Iowa Department of Agriculture is the lead on where the bids come out and how the project bids are submitted. So in these workshops we will actually talk about how to put bids together and how to submit them online. Okay. And then we'll also have Jeremy Brill with idols, Tanner Pauls, and they'll talk about what they have seen in some of these practices when they have been built by others and are in place. So what are they looking for? What is the right way of doing things? What are the things you should not be doing? What are the things you should be doing? So the do's and don'ts of construction and installation, so to speak. We also have Sarah Anderson with USDA and RCS. She's also going to talk about some of the projects that USDA has on these practices and how they have seen things. And we'll also have Dr. Chris here to talk about why in the world are we doing all these things? Why indeed? Yes. So philosophically what is the reasoning and why is this thing important and why State of Iowa is spending all kinds of money to get these practices in place. Both USDA and State Heart and Molden in getting these practices built because we are all, as I said earlier, doing our due diligence to address that water quality. Yeah. And again, campaign time to me, you know, we're always hearing about water quality. We hear a lot about that any time a report comes out. But at the same time, as you said, we do need drainage and striking that balance. It is going down the path of making these practices work. Not every practice fits every form field. Not every infield practice is adaptable to every field. It also depends on farming operations and other things. So it's kind of a strategy for each farm as to how will we reduce those nutrient losses. Some may say cover crops work very fine for them. And I've run into producers who say, I don't want to do anything with cover crops. I tried it and it does not work for me. So those are the questions and it's going to be a strategy where in certain cases wetlands would work. In other cases, oxbows would work. And in others, saturated buffers are a very well suited because the creek going through there has nice even slope. And we can manage some of that water running it through the root system of the grasses in the saturated buffer. And in other places, we'll have to put in wood chip bioreactors where we actually run the water through those wood chips to reduce the nitrates and reduce the load going out in the streams. And you know, without knowing exactly which projects and things like that might actually be in development. But we do have between Iowa Creek and Beaver Creek watersheds. Pretty sure that there's opportunities for these kinds of projects to be done in those areas. Yes, we have a whole bunch of watershed coordinators and other staff and extension people also talking to producers. So we are always drumming up the interest in these practices, trying to explain to producers why these things are important and why they should be investing more into it. And as in that interest is maturing and more and more producers are now signing up to do these things. Well, now the workload has gotten up there. It's getting up there. And we need more people to be constructing these as well. So again, we do have, I know there's a set number of drainage people that do do work on their contractors that do work. But like you said, also an opportunity for maybe some producers that if they do have the equipment or are interested in it, it is another another opportunity. Absolutely, Jen, this is anybody and everybody who's interested can come to the workshop. We are not just limiting it to exclusively to the contractors. Anybody is welcome to join and we'll share the information accordingly. We also have a panel discussion scheduled in the workshop where we'll have idols, people and the folks who have constructed some of these sites previously just just discuss things as to what worked for them, what doesn't work, what what is the design calling for and how do you go about doing some of the things. And that will be followed by an actual farm visit as well, where we have these practices installed. So there'll be plenty of opportunities to learn about what these practices are. How do we go about submitting the beds? How do we go about doing the work? What should we be watching for? And again, the project, the workshops are sponsored by Agridrain, the Great Outdoors and the Drain Tiled Safety Coalition. We also have Keegan Kult with the Agricultural Drainage Water Management Coalition. He's going to be the co-leader with me on the field visits and the panel discussion. So I think we got a pretty good group of people who have hands-on experience with these projects leading this workshop. And I'll invite anybody and anybody interested to come to the workshop. I could see a producer that does have some of the equipment and you know, it goes okay, I'll have some opportunity some opportune time here in between doing my own application or whatever I've got to be doing, but being able to go out and but now how do I go about those beds? How do I do that? What am I looking? And since it's all engineered already, they basically give them the plans. It's a matter of what's what's it worth? Yeah, the design work is already done. You don't have to do that. All the surveying is done. It's now just a matter of actually getting out there, setting up your control points and then getting to work with the equipment you have. Might end up working with your neighbors on some of this. Yeah, and the point is that after spraying is done, you may have some opportunities there in August and September before harvest shows up. Yeah. That that you can actually be doing these practices on the edge of the field and you're not actually in your crop land. So so I think we have that opportunity there. Definitely after harvest, these things can also be put in. But I think there's there's plenty of work that folks can look into. Okay, so let's give them again, particulars really on the one closest us, which is up in Fort Dodge. And that is going to be what? Well, you'd like to have them registered by what? June 9th? Yes, we request people to pre-register. The pre-registration date is by the end of the day on June 9th. And the main reason is we would like to have all our ducks in a row when people show up. We don't want to look like we are. Want to make sure we have enough food and handouts and information and things like that. I tell people I don't want to look like a chicken who's running around with his head cut off. Trying to trying to do multiple things and trying to answer multiple questions. So majority of questions that we can get answered ahead of time, get things planned out, things flow smoothly. And that's why we ask for that pre-registration. Actually, relatively minimal 75 bucks. 75 bucks includes morning refreshments, afternoon break refreshments, lunch, and the handout materials. So if you get registered by June 9th, it's $75. And after June 9th, it does go up slightly. But we, I think folks who are interested should look into getting signed up. Now you can get more information about it. You can call our Boone County Extension office here. And they know about it. And if you want to call the Webster County Extension office just north of us, which is what Webster County is. And the number up there is 515-576-2119. Talk to Linda Klein up there. And she's our program coordinator. She knows all the details about it. And if you did not get the number down, you can still just go online and search for batch and build workshops and put an Iowa State University where this thing should pop up on any search engine. The news release has been out for over a week now. So it should be available. I did that posted. I think we've got it at kwbg.com. I think I posted it last weekend. But once again, it's gonna be in Fort Dodge at the Webster County office, Extension office. Yes. In Fort Dodge. On the 16th is one we're talking about because it's one the closest to us. Yes. And if you cannot make it to the 16th, you can drive a little farther and be at the high water one. Both of these workshops are identical. The program is the same. The panel discussion is the same. It's just the field visits will be different here. We are going to the Smeltzer Farm, which is just south of Fort Dodge there. And they have an oxbow, a saturated buffer, as well as a bioreactor already installed on that ground. And out in

Hibata, we are actually going to two field visits. One is 10 minutes north of where we will be meeting. And that has a bioreactor in it. And then another 10 minutes. Now we got a second site that has a saturated buffer installed. So you know, it's of interest because you got all these different groups working together with you. Idols, USDA. So that that helps. Yes. And everybody in the drainage world knows about this. And we are just trying to get more people interested and make this group bigger, bigger. And if you're interested, once again, we do have it posted online, or just contact the extension office. They can steer you in that direction or like Bill said, just go online and do a search for it, batch and build workshops. So should show up. Absolutely. And if you still can't get to it, just give me a call. My number 515-2910174. Or you can look up my name and Iowa State University and it should pop up my contact information right there. I think if you just go to Boone County Extension, look up staff, you'll find them in there somewhere. Yeah, I think that may be just the easiest. Hey, I appreciate you taking time to come in and talk about it because I know drainage, we said it's going to happen. We know they need drainage and we know water quality is always an issue. So how do you get that balance out of the whole thing? And this sounds like a good way for maybe some producers to pick up a little extra at work again. We know. We know it's not easy, but it is something that many of them might be very interested in trying to do. Yes, and even if you have questions, otherwise, call us. We'll be more than happy to discuss things with you. All right. Bill Arar, a guest on our program today. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you, James. Thanks for having me on.