Hundreds attend drainage innovation demo day
Hundreds turn out to Innovative Drainage Field Day held at Huronview demo farm in Clinton on June 15
CLINTON, ONTARIO, CANADA – Four tile contractors were installing innovative drainage tile at Huron County’s Huronview Demonstration Farm near Clinton, Ontario on Saturday, June 15, 2019 and more than 350 people came out to see it.
Agricultural producers, drainage contractors and members of the public attended the Drainage Innovation Field Day. Visitors came from across Southwestern Ontario and from other parts of Canada as well as from the United States (even from California) to take part in the day. The drainage demo day included field tours on wagons, workshops, soil and water education activities, and an industry trade show.
Attendees during the day included the Honourable Ernie Hardeman, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; as well as Hon. Lisa Thompson, Huron-Bruce MPP; and Ben Lobb, Huron-Bruce MP; county and municipal representatives; and other dignitaries from agricultural, drainage, and conservation organizations.
The event was run by Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement Association (HSCIA), a volunteer board of farmers who are passionate about improving soil and water quality. HSCIA has a fifteen-year agreement with the County of Huron to farm on the 47-acre Huronview Demo Farm field with cover crops, no-till, and best practices.
“We knew we needed to invest in field drainage there in order to control erosion and we took this opportunity to try the most innovative system out there,” said Doug Walker, President of HSCIA. “By partnering with Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA), we’re able to use it for research.”
Organizers of the Drainage Innovation Field Day thanked the hundreds of people who attended as well as all the funding partners and other partners in the project and the volunteers who organized and ran the day.
“It is an unprecedented partnership,” said Melisa Luymes, Project Coordinator. “We brought agricultural, drainage, and environmental stakeholders together to align on innovation and research to improve soil and water quality,” she said.
This is the first time in Ontario that controlled drainage has been installed on a slope, according to Luymes. An Illinois-based drainage design company, AGREM, made the plans for the site and the designers, Jeremy and Bob Meiners, worked with the contractors last week and presented their work to the crowd last Saturday.
Drainage is essential for farming, but it needs to be designed well to reduce the potential for impacts downstream, according to Luymes. “Essentially, we’re trying to ‘shut off’ drainage systems with underground control gates at certain times of the year,” she said. “It works on flat fields in Ontario, but the key to making it work on a slope is that lateral tiles need to be installed on contour at a very precise grade. Conventional tile lines usually run straight, but these curve around the field. It is quite a sight.”
The demonstration farm site features a side-by-side-by-side plot of contoured/controlled drainage, conventional drainage, and an area that remains undrained. Water quality and quantity will be measured, along with yield and soil data. The site also features a research plot comparing 15-foot and 30-foot tile spacing and a demonstration of surface drainage with terraces and a grassed waterway.
The workshops at the drainage demo day featured speakers including Kirsten Grant (University of Waterloo); Sid Vander Veen (Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario); Lynne Warriner and McKenzie Smith (Fertilizer Canada); and Dr. Jeremy Meiners (AGREM). In the soil pit, Anne Verhallen (OMAFRA); Peter Johnson (LICO); and Ross Wilson (ABCA) showed participants how field drainage works and the importance of soil health for water infiltration.
The Huronview Demonstration Farm drainage innovation project was funded and supported by dozens of partners, including the Huron County Clean Water Project, the Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario (LICO), Ducks Unlimited Canada, and Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA). This project was also funded in part through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP), a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists in the delivery of the Partnership in Ontario.
To learn more visit Huronview.net
Photos from the Drainage Innovation Field Day demonstration:
ONTARIO CABINET MINISTERS ATTEND DRAINAGE INNOVATION FIELD DAY AT HURONVIEW – More than 350 people, from Canada and the United States, attended the Drainage Innovation Field Day at the Huron County Demonstration Farm at the Huronview complex near Clinton, Ontario, Canada on Saturday, June 15, 2019. Among those attending the drainage demo day were dignitaries from the Province of Ontario, the Canadian federal Parliament, and from counties and municipalities. Shown in photo, from left to right, are: Alex Ripley, Economic Development Officer, County of Huron; Cody Joudry, Director of Economic Development with County of Huron; Meighan Wark, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the County of Huron; the Honourable Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for Ontario; the Honourable Lisa Thompson, MPP for Huron-Bruce; Jim Ginn, Warden, County of Huron; and Doug Walker, President of Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement Association (HSCIA). Also attending, later in the day, was Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb.
CELEBRATING A UNIQUE PARTNERSHIP: Many of the guests at the Drainage Innovation Field Day at Huron County's Huronview Demonstration Farm heard brief remarks about the innovative drainage project at the drainage demo day. From left to right, making remarks on behalf of some of the project partners, in photo are: Jim Ginn, Warden, County of Huron; Brian Horner, General Manager and Secretary-Treasurer of Ausable Bayfield Conservation; Doug Walker, President of Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement Association; Sid Vander Veen, of R. J. Burnside and Associates Ltd. and Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario (LICO); and the Honourable Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for Ontario. To find out more about one of Ontario's most innovative drainage projects visit huronview.net. The Huronview innovative drainage project was funded and supported by more than a dozen partners so far, including the Huron County Clean Water Project, the Land Improvement Contractors of Ontario (LICO), Ducks Unlimited Canada, and Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA). This project was also funded in part through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP), a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists in the delivery of the Partnership in Ontario.
HUNDREDS ATTEND DRAINAGE INNOVATION FIELD DAY IN HURON COUNTY: Haylie Williams and the Honourable Ernie Hardeman, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs check out the reduced tillage education activity at the Drainage Innovation Field Day at Huron County’s Huronview Demonstration Farm in Clinton, Ontario, Canada on Saturday, June 15, 2019. Workshops, an industry trade show, field tours on wagons, exhibits and activities about soil and water conservation, and the installation of one of Ontario’s most innovative drainage projects were among the features of the drainage demo day which attracted hundreds of people. (Looking on in the background of the photo are Huron County Warden Jim Ginn and David Heikap, Assistant to the Minister.)
WALKING THROUGH ONE OF ONTARIO’S MOST INNOVATIVE DRAINAGE PROJECTS: One of Ontario’s most innovative drainage and water quality installation and study projects attracted more than 350 people to Huron County on Saturday, June 15, 2019 for the Drainage Innovation Field Day at Huron County’s Huronview Demonstration Farm in Clinton, Ontario, Canada. Shown walking through the site are, from left to right, Doug Walker, President of Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement Association (HSCIA); Jim Ginn, Warden of Huron County; and the Honourable Ernie Hardeman, Ontario Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. To find out more visit huronview.net
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE – The Illinois-based drainage design company, AGREM, made the plans for the innovative drainage and water quality installation and study project at the Huron County Demonstration Farm at the Huronview site in Clinton, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Jeremy Meiners, of AGREM, in photo, spoke on drainage innovation around the world at one of several workshops during the Drainage Innovation Field Day at Huronview on Saturday, June 15, 2019.
DRAINAGE INNOVATION FIELD DAY ATTRACTS HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE – The Drainage Innovation Field Day at Huron County's Huronview Demonstration Farm attracted more than 350 people and they came from far and wide as shown by the red dots on this map. Many people came from Midwestern and Southwestern Ontario but people also came from the United States (as far away as California) and from different Canadian provinces. The demo day was held on Saturday, June 15, 2019 and it was hosted by the Huron County Soil and Crop Improvement Association (HSCIA) and other partners in a project that is being called Ontario’s most innovative drainage project.