November 21, 2001

Irrigation Workshops Set at Three Locations

Irrigation workshops will be held in Bismarck Dec. 5 and 6, Grand Forks Dec. 11 and Carrington Dec. 13, according to Tom Scherer, irrigation specialist with the North Dakota State University Extension Service.

The two workshops held in Bismarck will be at the Radisson Inn during the North Dakota Water Convention. An irrigation equipment exposition will be held at the same time. They are sponsored by the NDSU Extension Service, the Missouri Slope Irrigation Development Association the North Dakota Irrigation Caucus and the North Dakota Water Users.

The workshop on Wednesday, Dec.5 is, for experienced irrigators. Topics will include pumping costs of irrigation water, irrigated land rental values, marketing clubs, controlling saline soils, an update on genetically modified crops and an irrigator panel that will talk about irrigating malting barley, custom feeding cattle, irrigated alfalfa and irrigation in support of a cattle feedlot.

The workshop on Thursday, Dec.6, deals with the special problems of farmland water management and marketing high value crops. The morning session will have presentations on government rules about drainage, the basics of tile drainage, integrating tile drainage with wetlands and the business view of installing tile drainage. The afternoon session will have a grower panel to talk about experiences growing onions, cabbage, carrots, pumpkins and turfgrass seed. Presentations will deal with farm alliances, processing of high value crops and commercial vegetable growers of North Dakota.

The workshop on Tuesday, Dec.11, is at the Grand Forks County Office Building in Grand Forks. Topics covered will include tile drainage research projects in the area, irrigation well maintenance, an update on area water resources, potato planting configuration research, the cost of pumping water and high value crop projects in North Dakota. There will also be a panel discussion about using surface water for irrigation development in eastern North Dakota.

The workshop on Thursday, Dec.13, is at the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center. This workshop is for new irrigators or people exploring adding irrigation to their farm operation. Topics will focus on fundamentals necessary to start irrigating, including identifying irrigable soils, locating an adequate water supply, water quality necessary for irrigation, obtaining a water permit, selecting irrigation equipment, irrigation water management, the economics of irrigation and high value crop opportunities.

Participants can register at the door starting at 8 a.m. at all workshops. The registration fee is $20 for each Bismarck workshop and $10 at both Grand Forks and Carrington.

The number of Certified Crop Advisor Continuing Education Units available to participants will be announced on the day of the workshop.

For more information contact any county office of the North Dakota State University Extension Service, call Extension Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at (701) 231-7239, or see http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/upcoming.htm .

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Source: Tom Scherer, (701) 231-7239, tscherer@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Gary Moran, (701) 231-7865, gmoran@ndsuext.nodak.edu