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Repairing ag drainage ditches
A conservation director says strategically replacing failing agricultural drainage ditches reduces erosion and nutrient loading.
Lauren Lindemann with The Nature Conservancy tells Brownfield a two-stage ditch isn’t meant for every field, but in areas where they are failing, ditch banks are slumping and there’s erosion off the field, they might be a fit. “Every half mile of a two-stage ditch is reducing annually 53 tons of sediment.”
She says the grassy side slopes also improve water quality by reducing nutrient loading. “We’re trying to just reshape the ditch, add the benches which are considered a flood plain and redoing the slopes so they’re not as steep—we like to do three to one side slopes.”
Lindemann says two-stage ditches more common in the headwaters of a watershed and each one is built while considering the farmer’s management practices.
Lindemann spoke with Brownfield at the recent the Center for Excellence Field Day in Lenawee County, Michigan.
AUDIO: Interview with Lauren Lindemann
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