Schooley 1

Beau Schooley

Mr. Rudebusch

Composition IV

18 January 2021

Drainage Tile

A lot of farmers don’t know a lot about drainage tile and what it does. So, I decided to

present a question that most farmers think of when pursuing drainage tile. Would drainage tile be

suitable for my farming operation? Lots of farmers believe that drainage tile is too expensive,

and will not help their farm gain more acres in the long run. Also, they believe that putting it in

will not be worth their time or effort when they have no idea how it will turn out. By saying this,

using drainage tile is a great asset to farms that grow small grains such as corn, and soybeans

because subsurface drainage is one of the main sources of farmland drainage in the US. Also, it

helps keep soils absorbent and prevents crops from being drowned out, helps farmers expand

their operations, helps the soil retain the nutrients that plants need to grow, and it can help the

soil retain nitrogen which helps plants grow and keep the plants healthy.

One of the numerous benefits of drain tile is that it can help the soil retain nitrogen which

helps plants grow and keep the plant healthy. Putting in a drain tile allows the nitrogen to stay in

the soil in which it retains it, instead of running off the surface. This prevents the nitrogen from

getting into areas where there shouldn’t be high amounts of nitrogen. “Plants need nitrogen for

proper leaf growth and color, synthesis of amino acids, protein, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll. If

they don’t get enough nitrogen they can have stunted leaf growth and pale yellow leaves” (Miller

and Levine 671). According to Dattawandi and others from Florida International University,

“Nitrogen...is often lost from the soil profile by runoff, leaching, denitrification, and
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volatilization” (1). However by putting drain tile in, it can help the soil retain the nitrogen and

keeps it available for the plants to use.

Drainage tile helps the soil retain the nutrients that plants need to grow. To test this idea I

went to our own drainage tile outlets and took samples of the water coming out. Once I had

retrieved them, I then went on to test them. I wanted a controlled variable, so I decided to

compare my samples to a sample of well water. I chose three different drainage tile sites to

compare the levels of ammonia and Nitrate. The first test site was a field that had been planted

completely corn last year, therefore meaning that it was fertilized in the spring. Test site two was

a soybean field that was not fertilized, and test site three was a field combination of corn and

soybeans, this also had great amounts of cow manure on it. My results showed that the water

from the well was significantly higher in ammonia (NH3/NH4+) and Nitrate (NH3-) than the

water from three different drainage tile sites. The data I collected is shown below, and was found

by using an API Master Freshwater Testing kit.

This graph shows how much ammonia

was in the water samples that I

collected and tested. All the test sites

were located around Castlewood, SD.

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This graph shows the levels of Nitrate

that were in the water samples that I

collected and tested. All the test sites

were located around Castlewood, SD.

Drain tile can help farmers expand their operations. According to Dattawandi and others,

“to lower the fertilizer application rates for corn productions, reducing crop production costs for

the landowners'' (13). By doing this “Other possible BMP’s (best management practices) may

include precision agricultural practices, utilizing the soil N for increasing corn grain yield with

high yielding varieties, split application of N in fall and summer, and proper timing of N

application” (Dattawandi et al. 13). This allows farmers to spend less money and will help their

farm grow instead of putting too much fertilizer on and it not helping the plants but almost

hurting them. An example of this would be when you fertilize your lawn and you accidentally

spill some in a pile. Then a week later that spot in your grass is “burnt” which means it turns

yellow and dies.

Drainage tile helps keep soil absorbable and prevents crops from being drowned out.

“About 18% of the total rainfall was removed by [drainage tile] over the entire watershed. This

estimate compares well to that estimated by Bakhsh et al. [45] in Iowa, where they found average

subsurface flow was 20% of the total rainfall in a 6-year study. Jaynes et al. [46] also reported

that subsurface flow removes about 30% of the total precipitation from a field with flat

topography in Iowa” (Dattawadi 2). When people talk about drain tile removing so much rain per
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year, this allows the soil to continue to be absorbent in the future and not cause erosion. A study

was shown in Illinois “Subsurface drainage...was installed to convert millions of [acres] of

swamp areas into highly productive agricultural lands by removing excess soil water and

providing a suitable environment for crop production” (Dattawandi et al. 2). “This process is

crucial in cropped systems as it reduces waterlogging conditions and facilitates plant growth.

However, natural drainage is less effective on many farmlands due to soils with lower hydraulic

conductivities, soil compaction, and poor relief” (Kokulan 1).This is great for croplands, for

when they are drained the correct way, the farmer can get in the field and plant at the right time.

Not only can they plant at the right time of year, they can also harvest them.

Drain tile is one of the main sources of farmland drainage in the midwestern US.

According to the Polish Journal of Environmental Studies “More than 30% of cropland in the

Midwestern U.S. has subsurface drainage ‘tile’ systems to maintain the productivity potential of

poorly drained soils” (Hatfield 1189). This means every three out of ten farms in the Midwest

use drain tile to make their farm more efficient.

The amount and distribution of precipitation during the growing season (March

through November) had a major impact on subsurface drainage tile volume...The

years 1990 and 1991 were wet, with growing season rainfall amounts of 1048 and

967mm, respectively, compared with the 30‐year average growing seasonal

rainfall of 771 mm for the study area (Voy, 1995). Rainfall of 752 mm in 1992

was less than normal. Although 1990 had more rainfall than 1991 and 1992, a

higher tile flow volume of 261 mm was observed in 1991, compared with 189

mm for 1990 and 113 mm for 1992 . The year 1990 had heavy rainfall of 340 mm
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in the month of July, which was 227% more than the normal monthly rate.

(Bakhsh 1192)

This was another study from the Polish Journal of Environmental Studies about how much tile

actually helps get water out of the soil, and because this gets the rain through the soil and the

plants get what they need, the soil will then be ready for the next rain.

Thus, would drainage tile be suitable for my farming operation? Although some people

don't think that drainage tile will fit their operation, using drainage tile is a great asset to farms

that grow small grain, corn, and soybeans. In fact the return on investment is crazy. Some things

that farmers don't know is that they are taking acres that were worth nothing, putting drainage in,

and turning those acres into farmland that can be worth anywhere from 5,000 dollars an acre to

10,000 dollars an acre. That's how subsurface drainage is one of the main sources of farmland

drainage in the midwestern US. It helps keep soil absorbable and prevents crops from being

drowned out, helps farmers expand their operations, helps the soil retain the nutrients that plants

need to grow, and it can help the soil retain nitrogen which helps plants grow and keep the plant

healthy. On that note, after reading this essay, figure out if drainage tile will work for you by

doing that, you can talk to other farmers in the area who have put tile in, and people that

specialize in putting subsurface drainage in. All in all, farmers need to take a look at subsurface

drainage because it will be a great investment that you will not regret.
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Works Cited

Bakhsh, Allah and Kanwar, Rameshwar S., "Tillage and N Application Rates Affect on

Corn and Soybean Yields and NO 3 -N Leaching Losses" (2007). Agricultural

and Biosystems Engineering Publications. 674. Date accessed 10 December

2020.

Dattawadi, Sanku, Prasanta K. Kalita, Saoli Chanda, A.S. Alquwaizany, and B.S.

Sidhu.MDPI, 2020, pp. 1–17, Agricultural Nitrogen Budget for a Long-Term Row Crop

Production System in the Midwest USA. Date accessed 11 December 2020.

Kokulan, Vivekananthan. The Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute, 2019, pp. 1–12,

Environmental and Economic Consequences of Tile Drainage Systems in

Canada. Date accessed 11 December 2020

Miller, Kenneth R., and Joseph S. Levine. Biology. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print. Date accessed

14 December 2020.