Hardin County contractor proved out a batch and build model now being copied across the country
HARDIN COUNTY, IA (IAWA) – Jacob Handsaker, owner operator of Hands On Excavating, has won the Individual Impact Award for water quality in Iowa. His work includes installing several hundred water control structures across the state, proving out Iowa’s batch and build model as the first contractor willing to bid one, and spending years explaining conservation drainage to the landowners who have to decide on it. He was recognized at the 20th annual Iowa Water Conference at Historic Arnolds Park on Lake Okoboji last week.
The Individual Impact Award recognizes one person who is demonstrating leadership and impact in their community and/or state for water quality benefit. This can include individuals in the public or private sector such as conservation agronomists, program staff, researchers, community leaders, environmental biologists, etc.
Handsaker started installing saturated buffers and bioreactors as an early advocate at the outset of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, when almost no contractor in the state had done the work. Those structures amount to roughly 250 edge-of-field practices, through mid-2025.
His biggest contribution was taking on Iowa’s batch and build model, which groups edge-of-field practices into coordinated construction projects to cut cost and speed delivery, but it only works if a contractor commits to a large number of sites at once.
“There was real risk to sign bid documents to deliver on the number of sites that Hands On Excavating took on,” said Keegan Kult of the Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition, who nominated Handsaker. “Being the first contractor to do so was an unprecedented undertaking.”
The crews delivered more than 130 installations in the program’s first two seasons. That proof of concept gave the state confidence to replicate the model, and batch and build has since run in Polk, Story, and Hardin counties. Groups outside Iowa are now adapting it, including the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership in Knox County and the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which is applying it to phosphorus removal.
For Handsaker, going first was simply the launchpad for leadership.
“I want to be a leader, by no question, but I also want to be bringing others along with me,” he said.
He has presented at field days with the South Fork Watershed Alliance, Iowa Learning Farms, and Polk County Conservation, appeared on WHO Radio’s Clean Water Wednesday, and is a recurring guest on The Water Table podcast. He and his crew meet one on one with landowners to answer questions and adjust designs, which is often what turns interest into an installed practice.
Closer to home, Handsaker serves as an emergency medical technician with the Radcliffe Fire Department. He is a past board member of the Hardin County Farm Bureau, formerly chaired the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmer Advisory Council, and in 2019 was appointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers.
Please join us in congratulating Jacob!
About the Iowa Watershed Awards
The Iowa Watershed Awards celebrate individuals and organizations making significant contributions to water quality and conservation in the state. The Impact Award recognizes measurable results, collaboration, and innovation that improve Iowa’s watersheds.
The Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance (IAWA) is increasing the pace and scale of farmer-led efforts to improve water quality in Iowa. Founded in 2014 by Iowa Corn, the Iowa Soybean Association, and the Iowa Pork Producers Association, IAWA is building public-private partnerships focused on implementing water quality solutions. Learn more at www.iaagwater.org.