Batch and Build Program

Batch and Build is a great way to get public funding for an installation of an edge-of-field conservation practice for farmers and landowners. The Batch and Build method was developed to maximize efficiency and scale up the number of denitrifying bioreactors and saturated buffers installations in priority watersheds, by batching practices together for contractors to work on. This brings together farmers and project partners to get more conservation on the landscape. 

The Story County Batch and Build Project provides 100% funding to landowners for the treatment of field drainage tile outlets along their streams. Project partners include Story County Conservation, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and City of Ames. The Story County Soil and Water Conservation District maintains maintenance agreements with landowners, while project partners focus on outreach, field surveys, and contractual paperwork requirements.

A saturated buffer is a practice that has a water control structure that redirects water into the buffer. The buffer itself is a vegetated buffer that provides a high carbon source to treat the tile water before reaching the stream. The entire installation takes place on a field edge that runs along a stream bank to capture nutrient-rich tile water draining from a field, filtering out nutrients and allowing cleaner water to reach the groundwater.

A denitrifying bioreactor is a pit dug near a field tile filled with wood chips. The tile water filters through the woodchips treating the nitrates with natural biological mechanisms, then outlets the water back into the stream or existing tile. Denitrifying bioreactors can have a lifespan of about 10-15 years.

Focusing on the reduction of nitrate entering waterways, bioreactors and saturated buffers can have 40% average nitrate load reduction per year. Between the two practices involved in Story County Batch and Build and its project partners, there is great excitement to get more acres/landowners involved in Batch and Build.

Contact Megan at the Story County NRCS office at Megan.Volkens@iowaagriculture.gov or visit the IDALS website at www.iowaagriculture.gov to learn more.