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The big, beautiful bill's potential effects on the drainage industry.
Farm spotlight on Seiler Farms.
A more-than-40-year-old piece of drainage software becomes a drainage cr ystal ball.
An Ohio-based calculator helps visualize the value of various drainage sytems on farms.
Our biweekly eNews arrives in inboxes every other Tuesday. New for 2026: we've consolidated "general ag" news into The Biweekly Brief, to focus more of our eNews on the drainage and water management
that's most important to you. In-person opportunities
Our upcoming Manitoba event, DrainWest Forum, has registration currently open – read more about western drainage opportunities on Drainage Contractor!
www.drainagecontractor.com
One conversation at a time
by Bree Rody
Opportunities to break bread also help us break barriers – why not do so in person?
Recently, I was speaking to an industry contact who described some of the divisiveness in their area surrounding drainage and water management practices –subsurface drainage, as a practice, is relatively small in that area compared to other parts of the country. They said the prevailing attitude in the area felt “anti-agriculture” at times.
Now, that might sound extreme to people outside the ag industry. We (yes, despite being editor of Drainage Contractor and a handful of other ag publications, having never owned, worked on or worked for a farm, I count myself among those not in the ag industry) would likely clutch our chests, shake our head and say, “Of course I’m not anti-agriculture!”
Connections and conversations can be facilitated – but farming and drainage deserve a voice.
If I had to guess, it’s probably because people tend to think of agriculture in terms of its outcomes – good food is grown, harvested, delivered, sold and then eaten – but not in terms of processes. Some are pro-agriculture when it comes to getting people fed, but then bristle at the process – they don’t like this chemical or that process or the sound of this equipment. Then, multiply that dynamic on a scale that feeds the world and suddenly the bristling intensifies.
See, anyone who’s lined the bottom of their clay or plastic pots in their personal herb garden knows that for crops to thrive, they can’t simply soak in water forever, and thus can understand that in some areas, subsurface drainage is necessary – and even if there happen to be a few hot and sunny days where the water evaporates more quickly, that doesn’t
mean they should never be drained.
However you connect the dots, it’s clear that for those groups, areas or situations with a bit more of a prevailing “anti-agriculture” attitude, the dots can be connected. Connections and conversations can be facilitated – but farming and drainage deserve a voice.
On March 11, 2026, we’re launching our first-ever DrainWest event in Brandon, MB. A few years ago, when we considered launching an in-person and more general event, we looked at Midwestern states with more established drainage industries, like Michigan. Instead, we’ve chosen to target an area – Western Canada – where drainage is not necessarily in its infancy, but is certainly less prolific – so maybe seen as a bit scrappy, a bit misunderstood. These are areas where there might be fewer resources, less appreciation among the general public and fewer opportunities for connections. There are also unique landscape challenges in this geography.
Those emerging areas need our attention, too – and specialized content. The more we empower landowners and drainage contractors with knowledge and resources, the more they can bring to those discussions – yes, even the ones that get a little hairy at times.
Because ultimately, if someone agrees with the outcome of agriculture, then they can better understand the processes that go into it. The better proponents are at their craft, the easier those conversations can go.
AG EXEMPTION FOR CLEAN WATER ACT UPHELD
A decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has major implications for agriculture in the Western U.S., including the irrigation and drainage industry.
In the case of Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations vs. Nickels, a decision reaffirms that downstream discharge from irrigated agriculture remains exempt from federal permitting requirements, as long as that does not include additional point source discharges unrelated to crop production. That exemption dates back nearly 50 years, to 1977, when congress declared that farmers who rely on irrigation should not face tighter or more restrictive rules than those dependent on rainfall. Besides the fairness aspect, the exemption was also based on feasibility – requiring permits for every irrigation drain would create unnecessary overwhelm at the administrative level – and some level of practicality. It was a drainage system that sparked the case in the first place.
IOWA TO BENEFIT FROM NEW BUFFER INITIATIVE
A new Iowa initiative, the Streamside Buffer Initiative, aims to keep more excess nutrients from watersheds by encouraging farmers and landowners to add perennial buffers along streams.
The announcement was made last week by Iowa secretary of agriculture Mike Naig. The state will allocate a total of $3 million for water quality initiatives. The Streamside Buffer Initiative focuses specifically on watersheds upstream from the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids areas. It will work through a cost-sharing
The California Grassland Bypass Project involved a drainage system that conveys water from almost 100,000 acres of farmland. Complainants in the case argued that because of the wide array of pollutants carried in the system, it should not qualify for the exemption. The court’s reasoning was that some commingling from non-point pollution sources – such as windblown dust, road runoff and groundwater seepage – will be inevitable, and that trace levels should not negate the 1977 exemption. This applied to the practicality reasoning for the 1977 exemption.
The decision applies at the federal level, meaning all irrigation return flows discharged into U.S. waters remain exempt from permitting requirements as long as they contain no additional outside point sources. Producers and landowners must still be vigilant about what enters their systems.
program, offering to offset costs for landowners in participating watersheds who add perennial vegetation alongside adjacent streams.
Naig, who acknowledges that there is still “much work to be done” in Iowa’s
OVERHOLT RETURNS TO OHIO IN MARCH
Anyone looking to up their drainage knowledge should mark their calendars for the 2026 Overholt Drainage School. March 16-20, the revered Overholt school – named for the legendary Dr. Virgil Overholt and held for more than half a century, is a five-day, hands-on training program designed for drainage contractors, district technicians, farmers, and other water management professionals.
This year's program will cover a wide range of topics, including drainage planning, design and installation;
drainage economics; topographic mapping; GPS surveying; drainage law; design software; and the use of conservation practices to improve water quality.
Besides for-hire contractors, landowners and producers planning to install or repair their own systems with a "DIY" approach will also benefit from learning the key principles of drainage design and installation. Professional engineers, consultants, district technicians, NRCS and agency professionals, students or any other
longtime fight to improve water quality, says the initiative is “yet another example of [his] commitment to empowering farms and landowers to adopt the conservation practices that are right for their fields in a way that has meaningful impact on soil health and water quality.”
While the buffers do not have to be added to fields that already have tile drainage, experts have pointed out that these could be especially beneficial for farms that already have tile drainage or other in-field water management systems.
Drainage ditches, as well as several other edge-of-field practices, are also eligible for cost-share under the program.
subsurface drainage enthusiasts are also encouraged to attend. Canadians may also attend this U.S.-based event. Training will be provided by a team of experts from The Ohio State University, along with experienced professionals from federal and state agencies such as the Ohio Department of Agriculture, and industry partners including the Ohio Land Improvement Contractors of America (OLICA). Visit go.osu.edu/ods26 for registration details and hotel information.
MIDWESTERN FARMERS EMBARK ON EDGE-OF-FIELD PRACTICES
Six teams of farmers and farm advisors in the Midwest have spent the summer wrapping up projects made possibly by the Good Idea Mini-grant, a program run by a multi-state collaboration of Land Grant University Extension staff.
Each team installed an edge-of-field conservation practice on the farmer’s land to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff to local rivers and streams and, ultimately, the Mississippi River. The grants also incentivized the recipients to participate in podcasts and videos about their projects, with the ultimate goal to empower and encourage farmers to adopt beneficial practices.
Projects undertaken by recipient teams include a prairie buffer strip installed adjacent to a creek on a Saulk County farm; the installation of filter strips on a Marathon County; and an Illinois farmer who installed a second bioreactor on his operation.
The bioreactor was installed on a corn and soybean farm in partnership with the University of Illinois Extension and the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership. That farmer, Brian Corkill, already had experience with one bioreactor and understood the value and benefits. “We, as farmers… are just caretakers [of the land] for a short period of time. We need to do whatever is best, given our knowledge at any point in history, to make
BUSINESS MATTERS
THE BOLD, THE BIG, THE BEAUTIFUL
Can the stimulus superchage equipment purchasing?
Throughout the last 12 months, issues concerning federal staff reductions and tariffs have had an impact on the agricultural sector. Partisanship aside, these have been uncertain times for the U.S. agriculture industry.
Still, if President Donald Trump is correct in his thinking, there wasn’t anyone happier than the American farmer the day he signed his “Big Beautiful Bill” into law this past July.
Known formally as Public Law 119-21, analysts estimate the bill will increase the U.S. government’s agriculture-focused spending by approximately $65.6 billion over the next decade.
About $59 billion of that total will be directed towards core farm safety net programs including enhancements to Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC). The remaining $6.6 billion will be used to support a range of other programs including $1.6 billion each for agricultural research and rural infrastructure.
Of particular interest for producers and others working in the agricultural sector is the fact the bill raises small business expensing limits from about $1.29 million to $2.5 million with a higher phase-out threshold of $4 million.
In addition, full bonus depreciation for equipment purchases will be active for anything purchased in 2025 or beyond, meaning items such as tile drainage equipment and trenchers can now be written off in the year of purchase rather than depreciating them over multiple years.
As well, the bill ensures long-term funding for the USDA’s major conservation programs.
The question many in the drainage and drainage equipment sector are asking is: will those measures translate into an increase in business?
The answer is: maybe.
HOW IT COULD BOOST EQUIPMENT PURCHASES
Curt Blades, senior vice-president of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), says his members are enthusiastic about many of the measures contained in the bill
by JIM TIMLICK
and their potential to boost sales. He says tools like accelerated depreciation have been effective in the past in encouraging producers to upgrade their equipment and take advantage of new technologies.
“We love to see those things in place because it does tend to reflect in the sales,” says Blades, whose organization advocates on behalf of agriculture, forestry, construction, mining and utility manufacturers.
“From a drainage contractor or farmer or excavator operator point of view, there’s some really great technology out there. Anytime we can provide incentives for those end users to capitalize on the latest and greatest equipment, it’s a really good thing. It makes them more efficient and allows them to make the most out of their operation.”
Such incentives could help farmers who are on the fence about investing in new equipment to take the plunge, he adds.
“You need those additional incentives to make some of those purchase decisions that you might be on the fence about, especially when you’ve got uncertainty in the overall ag economy,” he says.
However, Blades points out that tax breaks such as accelerated depreciation are just one of the factors farmers tend to consider when it comes to making an equipment purchase. The final decision often depends on the tax situation of an individual farmer.
“You buy new capital equipment for a lot of reasons. The primary reason is always you’ve got a job to do,” he says. “You’re not typically buying capital equipment to reduce your tax burden. That’s an added benefit. Your primary reason is to do the job you’re buying the equipment for.”
How soon we might see the Big Beautiful Bill’s impact on farm equipment sales will depend on a couple of factors, says
Blades. One will be commodity prices and whether they move up or down. Another is interest rates and how the Federal Reserve responds to reduce those rates.
THE EFFECTS OF HIGH DEMAND
LaVerne Weber is the founder and owner of Grade Solutions LLC, a drainage and irrigation contractor based in Rock City, Ill. near Chicago. Weber says he expects the bill’s provisions will be good news for both farmers and drainage contractors like himself.
“I think the answer is, there are opportunities out there and I think people are going to move forward as a result,” he explains. “There are no limitations, and the bill does not limit anything in terms of hindering [operations]. I actually see [things moving] in the opposite direction.”
Weber has “definitely” seen an increased interest on the part of customers in his region since the bill was introduced, although the level of interest may be less in other parts of the state, he adds. However, he says that momentum had been building even prior to the bill’s introduction.
One of the big questions now in regards to P.L. 119-21 is: how will equipment manufacturers respond to some of the measures it contains?
Weber says many manufacturers had already begun reducing production and inventories over the last few years due to some of the uncertainty facing the agricultural sector. His concern is that some of the equipment he and other contractors require may not be readily available if customer demand ramps up as a result of the bill.
“The bill is creating optimism here, and opportunity for those that are ready to step up and seize it. How, will everyone do that? Is every manufacturer, every business, doing that? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can say that we’re positioned to take advantage of that and step up. I think most progressive
contractors are in the same position,” he says.
Stu Frazeur, owner of Stu Frazeur Tiling in Canby, Minn., thinks the bill’s provisions could translate into increased business for him and other contractors in the state.
A big reason for that, he says, is that it provides added resources to the agricultural safety net and programs like crop insurance, which will make producers feel more confident about making major investments in new equipment.
However, Frazeur isn’t sure that it will have the kind of impact some are predicting. Margins are tight for many agricultural producers at this time. If commodity prices were to suddenly drop or interest rates were to climb, that could seriously mute the bill’s impact, he says.
“Those other issues are larger and could eclipse the effect of [P.L.] 119-21,” he adds. “That [interest rates] is a huge one, especially when you start talking about a farmer borrowing a million dollars for an operating loan to buy equipment. That interest can really build up in a hurry.”
A CAUTIOUS TIME FOR FARMERS (AND CONTRACTORS)
Regardless of what the impact of the Big Beautiful Bill will be, it couldn’t have come at a better time for the farm equipment manufacturing sector.
It has experienced a slowdown in sales over the last couple of years, particularly in the United States. Overall year-to-date numbers from June of this year showed a 10 percent decline in tractor sales in the U.S. from the same time period in 2024. That was even more pronounced in larger tractors with 100 horsepower or more with a 38 per cent drop in sales from the previous year. Combine sales in the U.S. were down 43 percent in June compared to last year.
The slowdown has impacted some of the biggest names in farm equipment manufacturing. Agco reported a 30 percent decline in sales from a year ago while CNH Industrial and John Deere
Contractors say the slowdown in ag hasn’t translated into a severe slowdown in drainage.
ABOVE LEFT: Illinois-based Grade Solutions has been relatively busy this year, which owner LaVerne Weber credits to progressive and proactive farmers.
ABOVE RIGHT: Curt Blades delivers a recent address in which he admitted there is a tough outlook for ag equipment – for now.
experienced sales declines of 21 percent and 16 percent respectively.
“The short answer is, it’s not pretty out there,” Blades says.
AEM’s senior vice-president says one of the primary reasons for the sales slowdown is uncertainty on the part of farmers which can be attributed to concerns about interest rates, commodity prices and international trade.
“If there’s questions about any of those types of things farmers may think twice about purchasing a new piece of equipment,” he says.
Another factor could be that farm equipment sales surged during the COVID pandemic, which produced record numbers. As a result, many farm fleets are relatively new and there’s no need for them to be updated at the moment.
Frazeur has noted a definite drop in the amount of new agricultural equipment being sold, including in the land drainage industry. Buyers are also being more price conscious when it comes to making equipment buying decisions.
“Some farmers are definitely being a little more cautious. They’re being more conservative,” he says, adding that the slowdown hasn’t been as severe in terms of ag drainage.
A NEW DIY ERA?
Sometimes, during tight economic times,
consumers take a DIY approach – think house repair or dying your hair at home.
Similarly, with farmers, one option for the cost-conscious crowd when it comes to tile drainage is to install it themselves. Frazeur is aware of some people who have explored that option, but adds it might not be an appropriate fit for everyone.
“Some people really enjoy it. They can’t wait to get out there to do more tiling. Other people thought it was going to be fun and easy like in the videos, and it wasn’t,” he says, laughing.
Weber hasn’t seen much of a decline in equipment buying in his region over the last 12 to 18 months. He attributes that to progressive farmers and landowners who are ahead of the curve in terms of dealing with the effects of climate change.
“We’re kind of different in that we do a lot of subsurface irrigation of farm ground. Many of our growers are looking for ways to improve efficiency in their production process,” he explains.
“By having water available to those plants, they can count on a consistent yield out of their crops. They’re less worried about swings in climate with the rain or the lack thereof during warm weather.”
AT-HOME (AND ABROAD) IMPLICATIONS
While many of the measures in the Big Beautiful Bill are meant to encourage folks to buy American, Blades says it’s difficult to
predict if that will be the case with farm machinery. He points out that the nonroad equipment market is a global one and that the low volume of demand for items such as potato harvesters make it difficult for multiple countries to produce them.
As a result, countries tend to focus on manufacturing equipment they have the most expertise in and import items where they don’t have a lot of domestic capacity or demand.
“It becomes a really nice trade for that global market that allows us all to specialize,” he says.
While much of the focus with the Big Beautiful Bill has been on boosting domestic sales, one plank that has been overlooked by some is that it will provide $1.6 billion for agricultural research. That kind of support is critical if countries like Canada and the U.S. want to continue to play a lead role in agricultural production, Blades says.
“We’ve got to remain leaders in innovation. That’s incredibly important, especially when you talk about labour and some of the other issues at play.
"That requires investments from these individual companies into research and the best way to encourage more research is to provide incentives. Whether its drainage contractors or whoever it might be, we all benefit from that research investment.”
FARM SPOTLIGHT: SEILER FARMS
Ohio-based farmers use drain tile, ditches and more as part of conservation efforts.
by BREE RODY
Much has been made about the positive effects of drainage on crop yield. And for good reason. There are increasing studies showing that drainage is a net good for producers when it comes to the quantity and quality of their crops.
But more recently, advocates and researchers alike have worked to draw attention to the positive effects of drainage and water management on water and even soil health. Whether it’s controlled drainage systems ensuring that not an ounce too much water is drained, or intricately spaced systems to create greater efficiency, drain tile – and the broader systems of which they are a part – can have extremely positive effects on the land and water in a farm.
For Les and Jerry Seiler of Ohio’s Seiler Farms, soil and water quality isn’t simply a “nice-to-have." Conservation has been a core focus for 40 years.
In 2023, Les – a third-generation corn, soybean and wheat farmer – was awarded the National Conservation Legacy Award at the
American Soybean Association awards during the Commodity Classic – making him the first Ohioan to ever receive the award.
“We’re all concerned about the same thing,” Les tells Drainage Contractor, citing the need for clean water for both farmers and average Ohioans.
“Our mission is to improve soil health – it improves our organic matter.” The county has, per Seiler’s most recent knowledge, 62 soil types, and more than 30 of them are on his farm. That soil health is looked back at proactively through soil tests every other year by zone, cover crops and, of course, water management.
He flashes back to August 2014, when the nearby city of Toledo issued a “do not drink” advisory for its water due to algal blooms. “A lot
RIGHT: Seiler Farms incorporates waterways, tiles spaced mostly at 40 feet, edgeof-field practices and two-stage ditches to maintain soil and water integrity.
Images: Robert Meinen
of that was the weather and the environment and… things we can’t control, but there was a lot getting fed to Lake Erie through the Maumee River. Those heavy clay soils that leave the landscape, they’re capable of carrying more nutrients.”
Concern about nutrient transport and soil erosion doesn’t contradict the need for drain tile – in fact, Seiler says, it’s part of the reason drainage and water management is serious business for the Seilers. Located on the western Lake Erie basin, when the brothers began a conservation-first approach in 1986, the first step was installing waterways and filter strips to keep ditches from eroding.
“It’s not our favorite thing to farm around waterways, but sometimes it’s needed,” he says. With rolling terrain, he says, sometimes waterways are simply a pragmatic solution. A typical waterway, he says, is about 1,400 feet around the farm, with a 14-foot fall. That lends itself to more erosion, so filler strips and additional tile have been important.
Most of the farms are tiled at 40-foot spacing. “Systematically, 40-foot catches a lot,” he says. “If we’ve got an area that handles a lot of water, or if we have extremely heavy clay soils, we’ll tighten them up a bit.” Those clay soils are common around Erie. While they hold onto a lot of nutrients, “if you don’t keep a lot of those soils on the landscape, that’s how you get the algal blooms.”
On top of drain tile, two-stage ditches have been an important installation on the farm. The main function of a two-stage ditch is to slow the flow of water and sediments into the farm’s system. Water that leaves the farm more slowly will carry less sediment and result in less erosion. Often installed by drainage contractors, they have an added bonus of increasing vegetation, as well as diverse plant species and pollinators, on the banks of the land. That added vegetation also aids in the slowing of the flow of water.
For the construction of the two-stage ditch, the installers went up two feet from the channel and constructed a 35-foot wide bench. From there, at the top of the bank, they reformed the banks with a two-and-a-half to one-foot slope. The dirt recovered during the ditch construction was then repurposed by being placed in low areas and on hillsides. Seiler says despite the acres lost in the construction of the ditch, he feels they’ve gained in back in land and water quality – and production.
Despite the point of two-stage ditches being to slow the flow of runoff – ideal for wet conditions – Seiler adds that in recent years, there have been long dry periods.
“In 2024, we were in drought from July to early March of this year,” he says. A cold winter with no snow meant the barley crop was “basically burned off.” When Seiler spoke with Drainage Contractor in September 2025, he said the area was once again in a drought, but not as bad as the year before. “It’s a bummer, because we were getting enough rain through the planting and early growing season, that we would have had a really nice crop this year.” But it;s nevertheless helpful to have a proactive approach to sediment runoff – especially with unpredictable seasons. For drainage – and other big infrastructure jobs – the Seilers mainly stick to outside contractors. “We’re pretty much a two-man operation,” he says, elaborating that Jerry also works off the farm (Les is full-time) and both brothers have sons who contribute. He says being neighborly and having a strong network is key to good relationships. “We have some neighbors in the community that
we work with,” he says. In turn, “If someone’s got a parcel of land, we help them farm, and they come work for us. We’re blessed to have access to reliable, qualified people to help us through the busy times.”
He emphasizes,drainage and water management is just one part of what helps Seiler Farms contribute to its mission. The cover crops are a big focus. “They were the fix to wean ourselves off of a lot of commercial fertilizers and cut back on the nitrogen we apply,” he says. “It gives us that ability because we’ve improved our soil health over all these years.” Beyond environmental sustainability, he’s also grateful from an economic sustainability perspective. “We’ve seen how we can build these soils, we can increase organic matters, and cut back on commercial fertilizers. With commodity prices where they are today, I’m glad we have that option. There are going to be some tough times in grain farming, and input prices are not falling.”
For future goals, Seiler isn’t focused on a particular installation or project – instead, he thinks entirely from a soil perspective. “We’ll continue to look at ways to build our soils, maybe look at the mix of cover crops we’re planting,” he says. This year, they’ve grown 97lbs of potash, and are closely examining their soil biology and micronutrients.
“It’s all connected,” he says, adding that their understanding of land health has continued to evolve since they made this conscious pivot nearly 40 years ago.
“We knew back in ’86 we couldn’t continue doing what we were doing,” he says. “The erosion, the gullies that the work forms over the winter, it wasn’t going to be sustainable.” DC
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THE DRAINAGE CRYSTAL BALL
Using technology from the early 80s to look into the future
Thanks to a powerful computer simulation model known as DRAINMOD, and the results from a new study by researchers from three different Universities in the U.S., we now have a pretty good idea what future weather patterns will look like in the Upper Midwest of the U.S., and the impact they’ll have on drainage needs as farmers try to maximize crop yields.
by JACK KAZMIERSKI
With the help of DRAINMOD, researchers analyzed decades of weather data in order to predict what climate conditions will be like between now and the middle of the century. They combined that information with soil property data in southeast Michigan to offer drainage contractors and farmers a better idea of the kind of water management systems they’ll need in place in the years to come.
EVOLUTION OF THE DRAINMOD COMPUTER MODEL
DRAINMOD was developed between the late
1970s andearly 1980s by Dr. Richard Wayne Skaggs. A distinguished professor on the faculty of the North Carolina State University Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering for over 42 years, Skaggs retired in 2012.
“DRAINMOD started as a hydrologic model to assess the performance, and aid in the design and management of agricultural drainage systems,” says Dr. Mohamed Youssef, professor at North Carolina State University, department of biological and agricultural engineering. “At that time, the sole objective was
Model interface
Model is running.
Drainage design diagram, showing some input parameters.
RIGHT: DRAINMOD interface Image: North Carolina State University
to design drainage systems to optimize crop yield.”
Youssef explains that DRAINMOD was developed over decades with contributions from many researchers. Youssef led the development of several versions of DRAINMOD that added key extensions and enhancements to the model over time.
The negative environmental impacts of agricultural drainage were not front-and-center at the time, Youssef explains, so the main goals when designing drainage systems were (1) to provide traffic-able conditions for farm machinery, and (2) remove excess water from the plant root zone and provide a healthy environment for plant growth.
“This was the start of DRAINMOD,” says Youssef, “And over the years the model has been expanded by adding different components.
One of these “expansions” is DRAINMOD-S, which is a water management model designed specifically for irrigated agricultural arid and semi-arid regions. The “S” in this version of DRAINMOD stands for salinity or salt.
“When we irrigate arid cropland, we have to provide adequate drainage to manage soil salinity and prevent salt buildup in the plant root zone,” says Youssef. “If we do not provide proper drainage to manage, control and prevent the accumulation of salts over time, then this could deteriorate soil quality and fertility, and decrease productivity.”
DRAINMOD-S has been extensively used in China, India, Iran and Egypt, where agriculture primarily relies on irrigation.
Another version of the model, known as DRAINMOD-N, focuses on nitrogen. “We wanted to know the fate of nitrogen
fertilizer that is applied,” says Youssef. “Some of it will be taken up by the plant, but some of it undergoes different biochemical processes and can be lost through drainage water. Some of it is transformed into gas and is lost to the atmosphere.”
DRAINMOD-N was developed to predict the crop yield, as well as the nitrogen loss through drainage water from a given field, factoring drainage system design (drain depth and spacing), soil type, cropping system, farming practices, and weather conditions. The model was developed to assist researchers and engineers to design drainage systems and evaluate management practices that would maximize crop yield while minimizing nitrogen loss.
Another key concern is phosphorus, Youssef explains.
“Recently, we started paying attention to the link between phosphorus and drainage,” he says. “The conventional wisdom was that phosphorus is lost mostly through surface run-off, and that phosphorus loss through sub-surface drainage is negligible. But in the past 10 years or so, there has been strong evidence that the drainage system could also be a conduit for the dissolved forms of phosphorus, particularly in certain types of clay soils that experience cracking under dry conditions.”
With this new understanding, “we started working on a phosphorus version of the model, and we call this version DRAINMOD-P,” says Youssef.
In addition, another version of DRAINMOD has been developed to simulate forest ecosystems with inherently poorly-drained soils. “Not only do we grow crops,” says Youssef. “We also grow trees.”
Conceptual representation of the hydrologic, carbon, and nitrogen cycles simulated by DRAINMOD
Image:
Dr. Mohamed Youssef
Conceptual representation of the hydrologic, carbon, and nitrogen cycles simulated by DRAINMOD
Over the decades, DRAINMOD has been used by researchers to advance the science and engineering of water management systems on poorly-drained soils that require artificial drainage for crop production. It has also been used to assess conservation practices that minimize the negative impact of drainage on ground and surface water quality, including controlled drainage, drainage water recycling, saturated buffers and bioreactors, Youssef explains.
“All these systems can be assessed, evaluated and designed using DRAINMOD,” he says. “The model has been used in many countries around the world.”
DRAINMOD FOR DRAINAGE CONTRACTORS
Youssef says that although engineers can typically use DRAINMOD on their own with proper training, he’s hoping to flatten the learning curve and simplify the process so that it can be understood and employed more easily by drainage contractors to help them design systems for their customers.
“The model has been used as the engine and the core of several tools where you don’t really need to know all the ins and outs of the model,” he says. “You can specify your location, and then the tool will get the soil properties and weather data from readily available geo-spacial data bases provided by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and NOAA.”
A number of tools are already available online, and Youssef says he just finished working on one that can design saturated buffers. Also available is a controlled drainage tool and a drain-spacing tool - all based on DRAINMOD.
Anyone interested in DRAINMOD can download the software, as well as access manuals and training modules at https://bae.ncsu.edu/drainmod. “If a drainage contractor has an engineer working with them to design their systems, then attending a workshop and watching the training modules should prepare them to run the [DRAINMOD] model,” says Youssef. “However, the tools that we are developing will be a lot easier for contractors to use for the day-to-day design and assessment of their [drainage] systems.”
Currently, Michigan State University has a drain spacing tool available for download at https://www.canr.msu.edu/ resources/drain-spacing-tool. According to the website, this tool, “estimates the optimum spacing of four-inch lateral drain pipes that maximizes economic return on investment… for any rotation of corn and soybean,” and is designed for fields in the American Midwest.
Additional tools are available at https://www.canr.msu.edu/ drainage/tools, where contractors can access a saturated buffer tool and a controlled drainage tool.
PEERING INTO THE FUTURE
Youssef collaborated with Dr. Babak Dialameh, a postdoctoral researcher at the Ohio State University on a study that leveraged the power of DRAINMOD to predict the future drainage needs in the western Lake Erie basin in the U.S. The study was part of Dialameh’s Ph.D research under the supervision of Dr. Ehsan Ghane, associate professor and extension specialist in the department of biosystems and agricultural engineering at
The study looked at climate trends from 2030 to 2059, and although it focused on Southeast Michigan, according to Dialameh, the American Midwest, and parts of Ontario, Canada will likely see the same weather patterns in the future.
“The main message of this study is that we need to be smarter when it comes to designing drainage system for the future,” says Dialameh. “We’re expecting to see warmer temperatures in the future and a shift in precipitation.”
In the past, he adds, we had more precipitation during the growing season, but based on this research, we are probably going to see more precipitation in the non-growing season. A dryer growing season, combined with warmer temperatures translates into a bigger need for irrigation and better drainage management.
“In the past, one of the reasons we had yield loss was wet stress. But in the future, the opposite will be true,” he says. “Instead of wet stress, we will see draught stress, due to a lack of water in the soil. And that means we’ll need to find ways to retain water.”
One of the ways to do so, Dialameh explains, is to widen drainage spacing. “The wider the spacing, the lower the drainage intensity,” he says. “This was actually the most important finding in our study.”
Dialameh explains that drainage contractors and farmers typically look at weather data from the past three decades in order to get a 30-year average that helps them determine the optimum design of their drainage systems. “Now, we’re suggesting that maybe it would be a good idea to also look into future data, because when you do so, you’ll see that your design would have to be a bit different,” he says.
He hesitates to give specifics about the ideal drainage spacing for the decades to come because the study offers projections and models, which may not be perfect. “There’s a high level of uncertainty,” says Dialameh.
Another interesting prediction has to do with water flow. “During the growing season, there will be less water leaving in drainage pipes, because it will be warmer, and there will be less precipitation during the summer,” says Ghane.
“It will therefore be very important to have some form of irrigation during the growing season, during the hottest months of the year, specifically July and August.”
Conversely, during the non-growing season, especially during December, January and February, controlled drainage will be critical.
“When there’s a lot of rainfall coming down during the nongrowing season, controlled drainage can be very effective,” says Ghane, “as can any water management system, like drainage water recycling, to store some of the water during the non-growing season.”
Although the results of this study may not be 100 percent accurate, they do offer a glimpse into the future, and they do point to a definite trend in climate conditions.
We may not know how dry the summers will be, or how much precipitation will come down in the winter months, but we do know that drainage needs will have to evolve and keep pace with the changes. DC
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OKAY… PROVE IT!
How can you prove the worth of drainage? There’s an equation for that.
Impacting everything from the health of the crop yield to the pricing of a farm sale or the leasing of property acreage, drainage is a concept that agrarians generally agree is extremely valuable.
by NICK KREWEN
In the immediately tangible sense, drainage is a tool that can alleviate excess water through manageable surface and subsurface techniques that will improve soil quality and contribute to the growth of a healthy crop – an objectively good thing. But it can also be an expensive proposition, which is one of the reasons not all farmers are sold on the idea.
Bruce Clevenger, extension field specialist, farm management, and associate professor and Certified Crop Adviser with the Ohio State University, has come up with
a web-based calculator that can not only determine the cost of installing drainage to the farmer, but also the payback period of such an investment.
“Drainage systems can range from $900 an acre to upwards of $1400 an acre, dependent on the drain spacing and the features of that subsurface drainage,” says Clevenger.
“The main purpose of this calculator, a free tool that is an Excel spreadsheet, is to calculate a payback period, defined as the number of years it would take for that
RIGHT: A team at Ohio State University Lima installs a drainage water recycling system – one of the systems that, although pricey, can pay off over a longer period, says Bruce Clevenger's math.
Image: Hudson and Taylor Mealy.
investment to return its original cost through the new revenue that that investment makes.”
Part of that equation is determining the amount of drainage infrastructure needed to be installed for a farm.
“Once we know how much that is, then I like to work with farmers on the payback period calculator, which includes the drain spacing, the cost of the material, the design and economic costs.”
For the economic costs, Clevenger says the main Midwestern commodities he deals with are corn and soybean, complemented occasionally by soft red winter wheat and alfalfa. He notes that his calculator also factors in the grower’s input on the estimated increases of the yield by bushels enhanced by the improved drainage system.
“Then it calculates that payback period based on the input of the farmer,” he notes.
How long would a typical payback period be?
“A payback period of 10 years may be realistic in a typical situation,” replies Clevenger. “It’s not uncommon to have a payback period of 10 years for the cost of the project and maybe some expected unit improvements in grain prices.”
He adds that his digital tool might play a deciding role in whether a farmer moves forward with a drainage project. It can also be handy on the part of the contractor, who can help a client (or potential client) understand the value of drainage systems.
“What the calculator can show is that if we have a payback period pushing 20 years, then maybe the cost of the project is too high. The farmer may have to decide that maybe he doesn’t need those subsurface tiles to be so tightly spaced, so close together in the field. Instead, you might have more affordable, realistically economic tile-drain spacing that in turn makes the payback period closer to 10 years.”
The insertion of commodity prices can also help determined payback – with a higher crop price actually shortening the time needed to repay before recouping expenses and realizing profit.
“When the commodity prices were high two or three years ago, corn was between $6 and $7 a bushel and soybeans were $11 to $12 a bushel,” explains Clevenger, citing the pandemic of the early 2020s as a catalyst for a temporary price boost.
“When commodity prices are historically high, the payback period lessens: it could be five-to-seven years, depending on the cost of the project.
“But it may not be realistic to use those commodity prices for a long-term price average into the calculator, because we only had those high, historic prices for two-to-three growing seasons before commodity prices returned to normal – or even below normal.”
Clevenger says his calculator works for both surface and subsurface drainage systems, to help not only agriculturalists to move forward, but to also potential farm landowners assess a possible purchase.
“A payback period might be a conversation between a landowner and a farmer, or a landowner that operates the land,” he asserts.
There are other financial considerations ranging from crop insurance to tax breaks.
“I would put drainage in the same category as crop insurance and risk management,” Clevenger says.
“One thing that farm drainage does is help remove the year-to-year variation of extreme crop yields. With year-toyear drainage over a course of 10 years, having consistent crop yields can be documented as a higher average production history to a crop insurance agent.
“Therefore, there’s a higher coverage level for crop insurance policy - and that is an advantage for farmers. It’s part of that risk management strategy. Farmers use a lot of different tools on the farm to manage risk: one of them can be subsurface drainage.”
And, on the IRS front, Clevenger says farmers may be able to claim depreciation for their investment.
“The calculator will help determine what the value per acre of the drainage improvement can be, whether that will be $900 or $1200 an acre.
"So, if I’m buying a farm that’s already well-drained, the current or future owner could place a part of that value to the drainage system.
“If I buy a farm at $10,000 per acre and the farm currently has a drainage system, I can partition a portion of that $10,000 off and essentially have a tax deduction because I can depreciate the value of that drainage system on the property that I just bought.
“It’s an IRS rule: purchasing or installing a drainage
system is a depreciable expense on their annual tax filing.”
But, if you have no drainage –something that Clevenger argues is an “essential” to farming – then you’re at risk of losing more than potential insurance and tax concerns.
“For our region – and much of the Midwest and upper Midwest – we have periods of the year where we have excess rainfall that can interfere with crop production,” he says.
“Ideally, we want to plant early and harvest in a timely fashion in the fall.”
Clevenger explains that with the assistance of drainage tile and other drainage methods, not only have soil quality conditions in the spring improved – to the point where crop
health is also enriched – but the soil’s trafficability and ability to handle the weight of the farmstead equipment needed to cultivate the field has also galvanized.
Without drainage, the impact to the crop yield could be catastrophic, as the excess water displaces the oxygen that’s already in the soil and integral to the survival and overall prosperity of the crop’s roots.
“Much of the oxygen necessary for the crop enters the crop through the soil and that water exchange is very important,” notes Clevenger.
“If we have excess water in the early stages of crop development, roots of that crop are going to develop poorly,” he explains.
“It can also increase our risk of disease development: there are several waterborne pathogens that are naturally occurring in the soil, and they are more harmful to the crop under those wet soil conditions.”
Beyond the direct effects on commodity yields, excess water can also dramatically interfere with the pollination and reproduction cycles, which could see yields fall short and potentially necessitate a re-planting of the damaged crops at the farmer’s expense.
“With a per-acre cost of $120-$130 for corn seed, any replanting later in that season due to water excess destruction could be prohibitive, whether it’s out-of-pocket or involving
A team at Ohio State University Lima installs a drainage water recycling system – one of the systems that, although pricey, can pay off over a longer period.
a seed company discount of 50 percent,” Clevenger says.
“The economic loss may be the cost of the replant seed, but it’s also potentially the maybe 20 percent reduction in yield, because we now have a later planting date and other costs that might arise with corn production.
“Late planted corn might not dry in the field, so to put that corn in storage, the farmer would have to pay for drying and the energy to reduce the fall harvest moisture percentage of that corn. And that cost might be somewhere between $50 to $75 an acre, compared if it was drier coming out of the field.
“That’s why the golden rule of drainage is: ‘Drain only what is necessary for good crop growth and trafficability and not a drop more,’” he continues.
“It’s about designing a system that can economically provide the function of having a healthy growing crop," he says, elaborating: "Field conditions that have trafficability where field operations can be conducted safely without causing soil compaction and soil structure damage and helps us conserve water in the field.”
Describing structly surface drainage as a system with “higher benefit-to-cost ratio,” Clevenger says it’s a flexible option that can be applied to portions of a field and is mainly designed to remove ponding water.
“You’d design a grass waterway or channel to get that large volume of water off the field without causing additional erosion,” he says.
“That can be essentially $400 to $600 [per] acre to potentially design – or redesign – a surface field that needs a lot of features put into it, and typically less cost-per-acre than tile drainage.”
With subsurface tile drainage, the costs are naturally determined by the amount of tile used and how they’re distributed across the farmland.
They can also be used to store water and replenish plants during dryer periods of the growth cycle in more complex, in-field systems, like the aforementioned drainage water recycling or controlled drainage.
Clevenger says that lately, it's become common for farmers to incorporate tighter spacing of their tile layouts.
“The tile is being put in more narrow, with the drain spacing down anywhere from 40 feet or less,” he observes. “Farmers have decided to install narrower drain spacing to maximize yields.
"It doesn’t take a combine with a yield monitor in some fields to see what the tile response is in that field: taller corn, greener color, better yield, is often seen where those tile responses are greatest. And so, the intensity of the amount of tile put in the field – the narrower drain spacings – has been a trend for the last 15 to 20 years.”
There are environmental concerns – especially with unwanted soluble nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus being dumped into streams, rivers and lakes, but Clevenger said those issues are being addressed.
“There are goals that are being met with many different layers of conservation practices that are all designed to reduce the nitrogen and phosphorus that is contributing to
the Western Lake Erie watershed and there have been many success stories.
Drainage water management is part of the solution: one of the tools in the toolbox that farmers are using to address our portion of the concern of water quality in the watershed.”
One more note about the calculator: although Bruce Clevenger designed the tool with Midwest geography in mind, he says it is adjustable.
“It could be adapted to any other crops that are grown –wheat, sugarbeets – a lot of commodities that benefit from drainage. The concept would apply to any crop grown on drainage improvements.”
That's good news for producers, contractors and designers in areas with slightly different climates or commodities, as drainage expands beyond the states and provinces typically associated with drainage, like Michigan, Iowa and Ontario – where the benefits of drainage might not necessarily be as readily understood. DC
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Drainage around the world
Travel notes from India
by Dr. Vinayak Shedekar, The Ohio State University
Drainage, as we know it, exists around the world! Yet, we rarely get to see how drainage is implemented in different parts of the world. Thanks to an Ohio State Global Gateways grant, my team and I had the opportunity to visit two regions in India in October 2024 and see some of the drainage issues and solutions.
Waterlogging and salinity are the two primary drivers for installing drainage. Ironically, the drainage issues have surfaced in country’s most-productive irrigated areas, where decades of over-irrigation and high evapotranspiration have led to persistent ponding and salt build-up in the root zone. My first stop was in the northern state of
Haryana, where some farms had recently been systematically tile drained. Local producers, working closely with scientists from India’s Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, shared how drainage transformed their fields. It was fascinating to hear the story from a producer about a historically waterlogged field, and how he saw rice paddy growing for the first time in his lifetime! The state government plays a central role by funding village-scale drainage projects, each covering 200–250 acres per year and benefiting dozens of small farmers. Since the average landholding is just 1.8 acres per farmer, each project impacts an entire community! The government-appointed engineers and technical staff conduct
planning, survey, design, and construction work. A personal highlight was seeing a Hollanddrain BSS 4000 trencher – one of the only two known self-propelled machines in the country!
The next stop was closer to home –Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra – where I grew up and studied agricultural engineering. The soils in this specific region reminded me of Ohio’s Historic Black Swamp – deep, heavy clays (vertisols) that are highly productive, but slow-draining. Sugarcane and grape vines are common cash crops in the region that rely on a lot of irrigation and fertilizers. Years of overwatering with flood (surface) irrigation has caused severe waterlogging and salinity. When I visited just weeks after the monsoon season, I saw several fields still under water. Many areas were barren, due to high salt build-up in soil and ponded conditions. Over the past decade, however, local cooperatives and researchers have helped expand drainage adoption from a few hundred to several thousand acres, supported by state and federal grants.
Drainage in India is still in its early stages, with limited use of advanced technologies such as self-propelled plows or GPS-grade control. But enthusiasm is high – and so is the opportunity for <b>education, collaboration, and knowledge exchange</ b> between developed and developing regions. The challenges may differ, but the goal is the same everywhere: to make every acre more productive and sustainable through better water management. DC
About the author:
Dr. Vinayak Shedekar is an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Water Management and Director of the International Program for Water Management in Agriculture (IPWMA) and the Overholt Drainage Education and Research Program at The Ohio State University. He can be reached at shedekar.1@osu.edu
Drainage 101: Saturated buffers
Asaturated buffer is a conservation drainage practice that targets nitrate in tile drainage discharge.
by Ehsan Ghane, Michigan State University Extension
A new Michigan State University study used a paired-field approach to compare a saturated buffer to a free drainage control field. This method allowed researchers to isolate the effects of subsurface buffer flow and controlled drainage, something previous studies couldn’t do.
The findings revealed more than just nitrate reduction. They offered new insights and a few surprises about how the system works.
HOW DOES A SATURATED BUFFER SYSTEM WORK?
water leaves the field.
• Subsurface buffer flow – treats the water as it moves through the soil.
• Buffer strip – helps treat surface runoff.
KEY FINDINGS FROM THE NEW RESEARCH INCLUDE
• How much we’ve underestimated saturated buffer performance in the past.
• Controlled drainage plays a dominant role in nitrate removal.
• The importance of weir management and how a one-foot adjustment can double nitrate removal. DC
Designing drainage for highly erodible areas
by Mel Luymes
Northwestern Ontario is one of the last frontiers of drainage for us. There has been farming there for a while now, mind you, but production is ramping up with an influx of progressive farmers.
LICO’s current president, Jesse Tait (Tait Bros. Contracting) started working in and around the Rainy River District 15 years ago and has now moved there to keep up with the demand.
For those who are not geography buffs, Ontario's Rainy River borders northern Minnesota and is close to the Manitoba border.
It starts at Rainy Lake and runs west for 140 miles to Lake of the Woods, eventually to Lake Winnipeg and north to Hudson Bay. It is flat, with deep clay soils, 170 growing days, 2500 crop heat units and about 20 inches of annual precipitation. Farmers there grow corn, soybeans, spring wheat and spring canola, and raise beef as well.
Drainage is doing what it is meant to do: improving yields and decreasing soil erosion from fields. But, as
always, it can have its trade-offs on water quality in other ways. Considering that drainage is just taking off in Northwestern Ontario, this is a great time to understand and address these trade-offs.
Dr. Catherine Eimers is the program coordinator of water sciences at Trent University, and she recently received a four-year grant from the Canada Water Agency to determine best management practices (BMPs) for drainage in the Rainy River District.
“The area is quite sensitive to erosion due to its double-whammy combination of flashy hydrologic regime and sensitive geology,” she explains.
Flashiness is due to a combination of factors, such as high-intensity rainfalls and rapid snowmelts, along with quickly saturating topsoil that cause streams to rise and fall dramatically, responding almost immediately to rainfall and scouring creek banks before receding. To make matters worse, the soil is highly erodible. Fine-textured glaciolacustrine clays and silt soils, with low-cohesion subsoils, mean that when water comes at it quickly, it is prone to
RIGHT: Ontario's Tait Bros Contracting works in the Rainy River District, where drainage is just taking off, and the area is sensitive to erosion.
surface erosion as well as bank slumping and collapse.
While bank erosion is bad for the drainage system, it is even worse for water quality. Phosphorus is bound in these sediments that move downstream. This phosphorus can later leak out into a dissolved form and fuel harmful algae blooms (HABs), or the sediment can build up in stream beds, or in the Lake of the Woods itself. It will become a “legacy load” – a gift that keeps on giving. In Southern Ontario, we are still trying to manage legacy phosphorus left here from the last 150 years of farming.
While the erodible soils of the Rainy River District can’t be changed, they can be protected. And, depending on their design, drainage systems and municipal drains can either help or hinder the flashiness of a watershed. Dr. Eimers is working with farmers and drainage contractors alike to determine where it makes sense to intervene.
How and where can peak flows be attenuated?
In July 2024, Jesse Tait installed a 15-acre drainage plot, which may now rival Dr. Lindsay Pease’s plots at University of Minnesota Crookston for being the “coolest” drainage plots in North America. With pipe provided by ADS Canada, Jesse installed drainage spacing at 10-, 20-,30- and 40-feet at a 0.1 per cent grade, three feet deep, with an undrained control. Each section will soon be outfitted with an Agri Drain control structure that Dr. Eimers will use for water quality and
How can open drains and watercourses be protected
Dr. Eimers is also working with contractors to research and demonstrate various ways of protecting drainage outlets. She is working with various manufacturers, comparing Maccaferri’s permeable geomats to riprap and to impermeable outlet protection structures, determining what will work best for channels in the Rainy River District. The goal of these structures is to dissipate the energy of water coming from the drainage system into the open channel, protecting the immediate area around the outlet, and reducing scouring of the channel downstream.
What treatments would improve water quality?
In other parts of North America, farmers are installing saturated buffers, constructed wetlands or sediment traps to treat drainage water and there is opportunity to test these systems in the Rainy River district to see if they will be practical there. BMPs are site specific, and it is important to consider the soil type, farming practices and climate of each region before recommending them.
Eimers’ project doesn’t stop there. She is also looking at nitrogen and carbon in both the soil and water.
As for Jesse Tait’s plot, he and the crew from Pinewood Crop Services and University of Guelph’s (nearby) Emo Research Station harvested a crop of alfalfa. Yields ranged from 30 to 90 bushels per acre across the various spacing plots and this yield data will be used to better understand the return on investment (ROI) of drainage up in the Rainy River District.
There is much to be learned from this research in Northwestern Ontario, and we will let you know what the team uncovers. Stay
Putting farms first, streamlining delivery
The Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition (ADMC) met with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) chief Aubrey Bettencourt on Friday, Sept. 26 to discuss strategies for maximizing the effectiveness of the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two organizations.
by Keegan Kult
ADMC, which works to advance sustainable drainage solutions in agriculture, emphasized the importance of forming an NRCS/ADMC working group to address conservation drainage needs, identify opportunities, and develop implementation solutions that remove adoption barriers and prioritize the interests of producers. Chief Bettencourt agreed to appoint staff to serve as the NRCS lead for this working group.
During the meeting, Chief Bettencourt outlined her overarching priority for NRCS: putting farmers first by streamlining the delivery of technical and financial assistance. She stressed the need for conservation systems that make farmers more efficient and deliver strong environmental benefits. The Chief also highlighted the agency’s commitment to updating conservation practice standards to keep pace with technological advancements. Additionally, the discussion addressed the need to improve the Technical Service Provider (TSP) program, recognizing that the increasing demand for technical assistance among farmers could exceed NRCS’s current capacity.
ADMC is well-positioned to help NRCS achieve these priorities, as reflected in the signed MOU. For example, the turnkey approach in Minnesota and the Iowa batch and builds has enabled multiple conservation drainage projects to be packaged and completed efficiently, streamlining both financial and technical assistance delivery. These alternative practice delivery models exemplify how ADMC’s innovative strategies
can directly benefit farmers by accelerating access to support and conservation resources. The MOU also underscores ADMC’s role in providing critical feedback to NRCS, improving the accuracy of practice scenarios and payment schedules to ensure they reflect current market conditions. Furthermore, ADMC is committed to advancing the use of TSPs, believing that strong public/private partnerships are essential for scaling up conservation practice delivery. By closely aligning its initiatives with NRCS’s farmer-first philosophy and goals for improved assistance, ADMC’s efforts are poised to deliver measurable benefits for producers and drive meaningful progress in agricultural conservation. DC
Keegan Kult is based in Iowa and has worked in agricultural water management for more than 15 years, contributing to more than 80 edgeof-field installations.
ADMC executives meet with with NRCS chief Aubrey Bettencourt.
There's hope for slopes
by Ehsan Ghane
Controlled drainage has long been recommended for relatively flat fields, but new research from Michigan State University is challenging that recommendation. A recent paired-field study evaluated controlled drainage on a field where only 6.6 percent of the field was under water management and found a surprising 48 percent reduction in nitrate load.
HOW DOES CONTROLLED DRAINAGE WORK?
It uses a control structure with a weir to raise the outlet elevation of subsurface drainage systems. This allows farmers to manage water levels based on crop needs and seasonal conditions, while also reducing nutrient loss.
Key findings from the new research include:
• Why steep slopes shouldn’t be ruled out for controlled drainage.
• Controlled drainage has two functions: Crop yield focus and water quality focus.
• How controlled drainage reduces nitrate loss in steep fields. On flatter fields, controlled drainage retains water across a larger area to support crop growth. On both flat and steeper fields, controlled drainage can reduce nitrate loss.
Read more in “Controlled drainage beyond flat fields” a new bulletin from Michigan State University Extension.DC
SURFACE WATER INTAKES
U.K. CONTRACTOR MARKS MASTENBROEK MILESTONE
Essex, U.K.-based Hugh Pearl Land Drainage, which is in its 70th year of business, marked a major milestone celebrated by trenching brand Mastenbroek.
With the recent purchase of its Mastenbroek 10/12D Sportsfield trencher, that marks 40 years of the brand working with Mastenbroek. Their first machine was purchased in 1983 – a 10/15 trencher. Later, a 712 was added when the team expanded its services. The 712 later became the 10/12D, which the company added in the early 2000s – and adds is still running to this day.
Hugh Pearl specializes in reservoir and pond construction, motorway drainage, SuDS schemes, light civil engineering works and sports field drainage. It was the sports field drainage expansion that prompted the company to add the former 712.
The company recently added the new 10/12D when business began expanding significantly in recent years. While it’s primarily a replacement, the older model won’t be retiring anytime soon. Overall, it’s Hugh Pearl’s seventh Mastenbroek machine in its current fleet, which also included a 15/15, a 20/15, two CT12 gravel carts and a GT8 gravel trailer. DC
CONTRACTORS GET A NEW TOOL FOR LAND-CLEARING
Minnesota-based Ignite Attachments has introduced the new Skid Steer Tree Puller, a compact attachment built to remove trees, brush and fence posts. It’s engineered for skid steers and compact track loaders, and is designed for contractors of all kinds who require land clearing for their operations.
“Ignite’s goal is to deliver tools that make real work easier, not more complicated,” said Trisha Pearson, business director at Ignite Attachments, in a statement. “This puller does exactly that. It’s strong, smart and versatile – engineered to give customers more capability without increasing cost or complexity.”
The puller features serrated jaws capable of removing trees up to eight inches in diameter, including roots, eliminating the need for stump grinding or chainsaw work and reducing overall job time. The steel frame boasts a total weight of 337 lbs. It includes a forward-angled push bar, offering an added layer of protection for operators and forward leverage to dislodge deeply rooted growth. An optional bolt-on guard protects the hydraulic cylinder from impact with limbs, underbrush and buried debris.
The puller is equipped with a 2.5-inch bore cylinder, a 1.25-inch rod and a 1.25-inch pin, delivering
NOKIAN EXPANDS SOIL KING RANGE
Nokian’s popular Soil King VF tire is now available in 14 common sizes for mid- and high-horsepower tractors with the addition of two new sizes in what it’s dubbed the 65 Series.
The Soil King VF line is known for using Nokian’s Flexforce VF technology, which help contribute to desirable fuel economy through an XXL-sized contact area. Flexforce is also designed for smooth operation both in the field and on the roads, as well as lower tire pressures to reduce soil compaction, supporting sustainable farming practices. Recent tests conducted by the German Agricultural Society help verify Nokian’s low fuel consumption claims, and testers have highlighted the tires’ soilfriendliness, stability and road performance.
The line now includes:
• VF650/65R38
• VF540/65R28
• VF650/65R42
• VF540/65R30
• VF600/60R30
• VF710/70R42
• VF650/85R38
• VF600/70R30
• VF600/70R28
• F710/75R42
• VF600/70R34
• VF650/65R34
• VF650/60R34.
NEW PRESIDENT AT SPRINGFIELD PLASTICS
Auburn, IL-headquartered Springfield Plastics, which provides solutions for agricultural, commercial and residential drainage, has appointed a new president.
Jennifer Furkin, a 25-year veteran of the company, most recently serving as vice-president.
The change in leadership was approved at a recent shareholder meeting and is effective immediately. The company says it is currently experiencing “tremendous growth” with the recent completion of a plant expansion at its Auburn HQ. It is also anticipating the completion of a drainage tile yard in North Manchester, IN.
Nokian says the range will continue to expand in the near future. DC
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“I’m proud to pass the leadership of Springfield Plastics to Jennifer,” said outgoing president Steve Baker, who held the role of president for 30 years. “This company began with a few simple principles: a commitment to manufacturing the best product on the market, delivering exceptional customer service, and staying dedicated to our employees and the communities we serve. I know Jennifer will carry these values forward as she leads the company into its next chapter.”
Why we do what we do
by Jeff Schell, LICA national president
Land improvement is at the heart of everything we do. For drainage contractors, that often means installing tile lines and structures to manage water. For me, working in Kansas, it means building terraces, shaping waterways, and constructing ponds to protect the soil and hold water where it is needed most. No matter where we work or what type of land improvement we specialize in, we share the same goal: improving the land for long-term productivity and conservation. Whether it is a tile system in the Midwest or a terrace on a Kansas hillside, our work provides the foundation for sustainable land use. Good water management makes it possible for farmers to plant on time, harvest their crops efficiently, and protect the soil beneath their feet.
As contractors, we don’t just solve today’s problems – we prepare the land for generations to come.
I’ve seen this firsthand on my own projects: A wellplaced terrace can stop erosion that would otherwise wash away valuable topsoil. A properly designed waterway keeps water flowing safely through a field instead of cutting gullies. A pond provides not just water storage, but also wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities for a family.
These improvements don’t just benefit a single landowner – they strengthen entire communities.
Like many of you, I know the challenges are real. Weather events seem more extreme and less predictable every year. Regulations continue to evolve. And many of us struggle to find and keep skilled workers. But one of the things I admire most about this industry is our ability to adapt.
Contractors are problem-solvers. We use the tools, equipment, and expertise available to us to find solutions where others only see obstacles.
And with every challenge comes opportunity. Advances in technology – GPS grading, precision mapping and improved installation methods – allow us to be more efficient and more accurate than ever before. Customers are increasingly aware of the need to protect soil and water resources, which puts contractors in a strong position to provide valuable, lasting solutions.
The Land Improvement Contractors of America exists to make sure our members are ready for whatever comes next. We provide education, training and a strong network of peers who understand the unique challenges of this work.
When contractors gather at a LICA event, we
share more than just stories-we share ideas and strategies that make us better at what we do.
Our associate members play a vital role as well. The equipment, technology and materials they bring to the table are critical to our success Just as importantly, their shared commitment to supporting LICA helps strengthen our programs and benefits for all members.
I encourage every contractor to take advantage of these partnerships – they are not just business connections, they are part of the LICA family.
As president of LICA, I believe the future is bright for our industry. Whether you’re laying tile in Ohio, shaping a waterway in Kansas, or building a pond in Missouri, the work you do matters. It protects resources, improves productivity, and builds resilience for the future.
The truth is, much of what we accomplish as contractors goes unseen once the project is complete. But its impact endures. Every terrace that holds soil in place, every drainage system that makes a field more productive, every pond that provides water and habitat – they all contribute to stronger land and stronger communities. That is work worth being proud of.
On behalf of LICA, thank you for the dedication, craftsmanship and professionalism you bring to the job every day. Together, we are shaping the land and protecting the future.
Jeff Schell and his wife, Marsha, as Jeff accepts the National LICA Contractor of the Year award in 2022.
Image: Kansas LICA.
piece of the water management puzzle.
We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to water management because no soil type or farm is alike. We work with drainage contractors across North America to maximize the benefits of water management based on each farm’s needs. From subsurface irrigation to automated lift stations and water control structures, we have the total water management solutions to improve yields, increase farmable acres, and raise the value of each farmer’s land.
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