About Us

At Ecosystem Services Exchange, assisting you with the wise use and management of your water resources isn’t just a mission — it’s our commitment.

Ecosystem Services Exchange

What is Ecosystem Service Exchange (ESE)?

ESE is a limited liability corporation that works directly with landowners to improve their profitability and environmental performance through the adoption of conservation drainage practices and systems that enable effective use and management of water resources. ESE employs highly qualified and experienced technical specialists to determine site feasibility and then carry out the planning, design, and installation of conservation drainage practices and systems that enable landowners to optimize their water use. Optimized use of available water ensures crops receive the right amount of surface and subsurface water at the right times for crop productivity while also protecting and improving the environment.

What Conservation Practices Does ESE Provide Technical Services for?

ESE’s technical work is performed under the leadership and oversite of a licensed professional engineer and multiple certified Technical Service Providers, registered with NRCS, who use a site-specific planning approach to respond to the unique needs of each agricultural operation. These technical specialists assist with a wide array of water management conservation practices designed and installed to NRCS conservation practice standards, including:

Drainage Water Management (automated and manual)
Saturated Buffers (automated and manual)
Denitrifying Bioreactors (automated and manual)
Structures for Water Control (automated and manual) and In Tile Line Watergates
Phosphorus Removal Systems
Drainage Water Recycling and Subsurface Irrigation
Constructed Wetlands

How Does ESE Provide its Technical Services?

ESE works directly with landowners to help them meet their water management needs efficiently and effectively using NRCS’s time-tested and proven conservation practice standards, which are the “industry standard.” Based on its experience with thousands of ag producers since 2010, ESE knows that robust crop production, farm profitability, and healthy environmental outcomes are compatible goals with the right practices combined to address water management, agronomic, and soil health needs.

ESE technical services may be arranged directly by an ag landowner or through a private/public partnership project. Landowners come to ESE directly for technical services because they recognize their water management needs, value the role of conservation practices/systems, and desire ESE’s expertise in helping them to achieve both their production and conservation goals.

Who Does ESE Partner With?

ESE has partnered with many private and public sector entities in 19 states and Canada since 2010.

ESE has a long-standing business relationship with Agri Drain Corporation, a leading and recognized manufacturer and supplier of innovative, specialized, and proven conservation drainage equipment used in ESE’s practice designs and installations. ESE also works with many other businesses, including suppliers of drainage tile, providers of agronomic technical services, and land improvement/drainage contractors. ESE works on projects coordinated by local, state, and federal public agencies that support ag production, conservation, and the environment.

ESE also partners with nonprofit and ag producer organizations that share common goals to assist producers with their water management needs because of its multiple private and public benefits.

ESE can increase its capacity as needed through business relationships with other engineering firms who have qualifications to support conservation drainage practice and system work.

In particular, ESE enjoys close working relationships with innumerable land improvement/drainage contractors, whose expertise and skills are essential to the installation of conservation practices and systems. Land improvement/drainage contractors have a relationship of trust with landowners because of their proven ability on-the-ground in ag settings.

Ecosystem Services Exchange is a technical leader in helping landowners to reduce nutrient loss from agricultural lands. We deliver significant, reliable and quantifiable results so that you meet operational goals at lower cost. This reduces downstream impacts and community costs to treat water.

Whether it’s reducing nutrient loading in waterways, improving agricultural productivity or enhancing wildlife, we have the expertise and technical tools to help you implement cost-effective solutions.

Leadership Team

Our leadership team and support staff offer a unique combination of skills and experience in the fields of environmental conservation, agricultural land and water
management, and business and financial expertise.

Dave White

President, Ecosystem Services Exchange - Former Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service

Dave has over 33 years of professional leadership experience in natural resource conservation with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Dave was Chief of the Agency from January 2009 to December 2012, where he led, directed, and managed the nation’s largest private lands natural resource conservation organization. At that time, NRCS had an annual budget of $4.2 billion, employed almost 12,000 conservation and business operations professionals, and worked out of 2,900 offices across the United States and its territories. Dave has extensive experience and a very successful track record of overseeing complex resource protection programs, working with diverse interests, developing and moving forward conservation legislation, and providing leadership for the successful implementation of natural resource goals.

In addition to his work with NRCS, Dave has also spent significant time on Capitol Hill. In 2007, he was detailed to Iowa Senator Tom Harkin’s office in Washington, D.C., where he helped craft the Conservation Title of the 2008 Farm Bill. He also served on a detail to Indiana Senator Richard Lugar and helped develop the Conservation Title of the 2002 Farm Bill.

Alex Echols

Strategic Advisor

Alex started his environmental career on Capitol Hill, working for the Senate for 12 years, writing key conservation programs like the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill and an extensive rewrite of bilateral and multilateral foreign aid programs. Alex subsequently worked for a trade association using market incentives to encourage use of recyclables. He spent six years at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation as Deputy and then Acting Executive Director. In 2001, he set up a consulting firm to help industry, landowners, the conservation community and government deliver more conservation for dollars invested. Alex is skilled at developing and implementing strategic action for philanthropic and corporate communities – helping develop conservation programs that fit their core values and deliver improved conservation return on investment.

Charlie Schafer

Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Charlie, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Ecosystem Services Exchange, began his career in the agricultural drainage industry in 1976, when he and two brothers began installing drainage tile for Iowa farmers. They soon began manufacturing products for their own projects and for other contractors. In 1984, construction activities were discontinued in order to focus soley on product development, manufacturing and distribution. Charlie continues as Chief Executive Officer and owner of Agri Drain Corporation, a highly successful manufacturer of many proprietary and patented products. Charlie has held various offices as a Contractor Member and Associate Member of Land Improvement Contractors of America ( LICA) over the past 30 years. He is President of the Ag Drainage Management Coalition (ADMC) and serves on the board of the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC).

Tom Christensen

Chief Operating Officer

Tom has 46 years of professional experience at the field, state, regional, and national levels in support of public-private partnership efforts to assist farmers, ranchers, and forest stewards with their voluntary conservation needs. He joined Ecosystem Services Exchange (ESE) in early 2020 after retiring from a 40-year career with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Tom’s USDA experience was gained while working for three different agencies, including 37 years with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). During his USDA career, Tom held 16 different positions in nine separate locations in four states and National Headquarters. He was USDA Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Mission Area Deputy Chief Operating Officer, NRCS Associate Chief for Operations (Chief Operating Officer), NRCS Regional Conservationist for the 12-state Central U.S. Region, and also held five other national-level NRCS Senior Executive Service positions, including leading all conservation programs, clean water and animal husbandry programs, financial assistance programs, conservation technical assistance and operations, and information technology. Prior to these positions, he was the NRCS State Conservationist for Illinois.

Tom has traveled extensively throughout the U.S. on private lands conservation issues and opportunities. He is experienced in all aspects of the development, delivery, and leadership of efforts to support voluntary conservation including conservation and watershed planning and implementation, science and technology development and transfer, technical assistance quality assurance and optimization, and supporting information technology tools. Tom has a B.S. in Forest Management from Rutgers University, an M.S. in Renewable Natural Resources Conservation from the University of Connecticut, and attended Duke University’s Public Policy Program for one year through a competitive selection under NRCS’s graduate school program offering.

Technical Team

Our technical team offers a unique combination of skills and experience in the fields of environmental conservation, agricultural land and water
management, engineering, and the on-farm planning, design, and installation of conservation drainage practices.

Andrew Craig

Conservation Engineering Lead

Andy Craig has been with ESE since May, 2020. He received bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Iowa (UI) in 2003 and 2005 in Civil Engineering – Hydraulics. Andy spent 13 years working at IIHR- Hydroscience & Engineering at UI on a wide variety of water resources subjects ranging from subsurface imagery, hydrographic survey, river sedimentation, fish passage, vortex and baffle drop shafts for combined sewer overflows, and many more.

In 2017, Andy left IIHR to pursue a doctoral degree in agricultural engineering/land and water resources at Iowa State University (ISU) where he worked with the STRIPS (Science-based Trials of Row Crops Integrated with Prairie Strips) team studying the impact of prairie strips on the fate and transport of bacteria and antibiotic resistant genes from manure fertilizer.

Andy received his PhD from ISU in June, 2021 and now splits his time as Director of the Buss Hydrology Lab in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at ISU and as the Conservation Engineering Lead at ESE.

At ESE, Andy is mainly involved in conservation drainage practice design (saturated buffers, bioreactors, phosphorus removal systems and drainage water management), development of automated water level and flow controls for these systems, and works to increase landowner adoption of conservation drainage.

Andy Mackrill

Lead Conservation Planner

Andy is from Adair, Iowa. He has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Buena Vista University and is also a graduate of the Overholt Drainage School. He joined ESE in January of 2013 and has since been involved in the planning and installation of conservation drainage practices and sub-surface irrigation projects throughout the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Chesapeake Bay. Andy is a NRCS certified Technical Service Provider.

Ben Rinehart

Conservation Planner

Ben holds a BS in Natural Resources and a MS in Ag Systems Management from Purdue University. Prior to joining the ESE technical team, Ben worked as Director of Operations and Ag Water Management for Clark Farm Drainage Inc. in Indiana where he was responsible for drainage project planning, design and delivery. He also has more than 10 years of experience in the public and academic sectors, which has ranged from leading conservation programs for local watershed projects in Indiana to serving as Project Manager for a $5 million, multi-state research project focused on increasing water storage in tile-drained landscapes to improve water quality and availability. He has authored multiple publications and on-line tools on innovative ag water management practices, including drainage water recycling, controlled drainage, and saturated buffers.

Kate Schafer

Conservation Drainage Coordinator

Kate grew up surrounded by drainage, with her dad, Charlie, and uncles, Chris & Bill, working as drainage contractors before founding Agri Drain Corp, ESE’s sister company. Kate first worked for Agri Drain in the 1990s; and in 2023, she returned as a sales rep, assisting producers and contractors with their drainage water-management product needs.

Kate is knowledgeable on drainage design and well-versed in controlled-drainage systems as well as water-quality related conservation drainage practices like saturated buffers and denitrifying bioreactors.

Kate has significant experience helping producers and contractors apply for conservation drainage practice cost share through various state and federal programs. Kate assists with all aspects of the application process, including site selection and cost estimates/reimbursement rates and also acts as a liaison between the producer and both the NRCS and ESE.