NDSU will participate in a $5 million U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant, announced April 7. Intended to support critical water problems in rural and agricultural watersheds, the awards were made through the institute's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Water for Agriculture challenge area and the National Integrated Water Quality Program. 

NDSU will receive $361,000 for its portion of the five-year project, which is titled "Managing Water for Increased Resiliency of Drained Agricultural Landscapes.” Xinhua Jia, assistant professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the lead researcher at NDSU. The research addresses issues of farm nutrients draining from fields downstream, and the need for irrigation water in late summer for parched crops.

Jane Frankenberger, professor of agricultural and biological engineering at Purdue University, the director of the project.

Other universities involved in the research are Iowa State University, Ohio State University, University of Missouri, North Carolina State University, South Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota as well as the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

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