Transforming Drainage Project Team Research Data (drainagedata.org)

This website contains research data measured across a set of experiments carried out by the “Managing Water for Increased Resiliency of Drained Agricultural Landscapes” project or Transforming Drainage. This project is funded from 2015-2020 by the United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA, Award No. 2015-68007-23193).

The Transforming Drainage Project worked to advance the process of designing and implementing agricultural drainage systems for storing water in the landscape to improve the resiliency and productivity of agricultural systems. Drainage is an essential component of the landscape to provide suitable growing conditions for the crops that feed and support both local and global communities. Increasing water storage on the landscape can provide greater water security for crop production while reducing the loss of water and nutrients through this infrastructure.

These data began in 1996 and include plot- and watershed-level measurements for 39 experiments across the Midwest and North Carolina. Practices studied include controlled drainage, drainage water recycling, and saturated buffers. In total, 221 variables are reported and span 206 site-years for tile drainage, 153 for nitrate-N load, 180 for water quality, 91 for water table, and 196 for crop yield. The Transforming Drainage Project research data are also stored at the USDA National Agricultural Library Ag Data Commons (doi:10.15482/USDA.ADC/1521092) repository.

Project Director: Jane Frankenberger

Project Manager: Ben Reinhart

Research Data and Visualization Tools: Lori Abendroth, Giorgi Chighladze, Daryl Herzmann (isudatateam@iastate.edu)