Across much of the agricultural Midwest, tile drainage has been widely utilized for decades to facilitate crop production in areas where wetness limits crop productivity. However, as you journey north to the Red River Basin of northwest Minnesota, you’ll encounter a landscape where tile drainage is largely in its infancy.
The most recent episode of the Iowa Learning Farms Conservation Webinar Series takes us up north to the University of Minnesota-Crookston to some of the newest AND coolest drainage plots in the US (literally … their average annual temperature is 40°F)! With average annual precipitation of 23” and such a short growing season, is tile drainage worth it?
Dr. Lindsay Pease, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in Nutrient and Water Management, explores numerous facets of this question in her recent talk Does Tile Drainage Pay if You Only Get 20 inches of Precipitation?.
Pease’s drainage plots were established in Fall 2019 – with drained and undrained plots side-by-side. Their current crop rotation includes wheat and soybean.
With four full seasons of crop production now under their belts, tile drainage was found to—
- Boost crop yields in wet years (little/no yield impact in dry years)
- Allow production to be more consistent year-to-year
- Result in drier soybeans in the drained plots (potential to harvest earlier)
- Move nitrogen down deeper in the soil profile
Check out Pease’s full presentation, Does Tile Drainage Pay if You Only Get 20 inches of Precipitation?, for further details on this research—and for all the dog people out there, you can look forward to several appearances by this most delightful Corgi field research assistant!
To catch up on any other webinars in the ILF Conservation Webinar series, all past presentations are archived on the ILF Webinars page for your viewing pleasure.
Iowa Learning Farms 