Tile Drainage, Is It Worth It?

The 2016 growing season was rare in that CNY growers battled drought conditions.  The 3 previous years saw crop losses from extremely wet field conditions.  So is tiling your field worth the investment?  Jeff Miller with Cornell Cooperative Extension shows you how to crunch the numbers.

Tile drainage is not inexpensive with approximate costs of 34 cents per foot.  Patterned drainage costs come in about $1000 to $1500 per acre.  Jeff says some fields with soils that were classified as somewhat poorly drained, increased yields by 70 bushels per acre with pattern drainage. While that may not indicative of every field, it does mean installing drainage paid for itself in about 4 years.

He also suggest talking with The Soil and Water office to research your specific fields and what your return on investment may be.  They will help you identify the soil type and give you an idea of drainage tile sizes and distance between tiles. There are some book values (estimates) of yields of different soil types both drained and undrained that can be used to estimate potential benefits of drainage and payback periods.

The Oneida County Soil & Water Office is located at 121 Second Street in Oriskany.  You can reach them at 315-736-3334.  Get more details on their services online.

SOURCE: Cornell Cooperative Extension - Jeff Miller