Proper drainage of fields is often one of the most overlooked aspects of row crop production.

DRAINAGE

Proper drainage of fields is often one of the most overlooked aspects of row crop production. The part of state we live and operate in is blessed to have some very rich prairie soils with excellent water holding capacity. That water holding capacity, however, must be managed properly especially early in the growing season to allow proper development of root systems of crops. The crop takes up 95% of its minerals and nutrients through its roots, so the root system is the lifeline of the crop and proper development is key to achieving high yields. Subsurface drainage, or field tile, is how drainage improvements are addressed. The importance of field tile has hardly ever been more evident than in the past four or five crop years when the difference between tiled and non-tiled have been upwards of 50 bushels per acre in corn!

If you are not farming the ground, why make the necessary investments for drainage? A recent land auction pointed to a 29% higher value for a farm that had access to drainage! Drainage was not even present, it was just the lesser tract had not outlet for drainage. These farms were located within one mile of one another and productivity indexes were very similar. A difference of $3,000 per acre is multiple times what one would have to invest in a drainage system. Not only does the improvement come in the value of the farm, the annual rental income will surely exceed what a non-tiled neighbor's farm rents for due to the increases in productivity.

We began to install field tile many years ago, and it started to become evident that the farms with tile consistently out yielded our other farms without it. In order to accelerate the process of installing tile, we purchased the necessary equipment required to get the job done in 2011. We have installed tile in many of our owned acres, became comfortable with the equipment and the process, and are now ready to open this opportunity to our landowners to help improve their farms. We believe this is a unique opportunity for landowners and a great reward for choosing to work with us as tenants. We are only open to tiling for landowners that we rent from, this is not a separate profit center and projects are priced according. What this amounts to is a tile job that is done right and done for half to two-thirds the cost of hiring a commercial contractor.

Why choose use over a commercial contractor? If quality is your goal and price is important we are an excellent fit. Since we only tile on farms we operate, we have a vested interest that the tile is installed correctly, accurately, and all fittings and connections done appropriately. Price variability allows us to provide owners with added incentives because we are not running our tile operations as a separate business. It is treated as a complement to our tenancy and our goal is to cover our cost with the operations and improve your farm, not to charge a large per acre fee that takes away the incentive to tile. Another benefit is our ability to accurately gauge tile sizing and spacing. After farming a farm for a couple years, we begin to get a feel for terrain and soils and how they can benefit from subsurface drainage. We prefer to custom fit your farm to its needs based on our experience instead of using the cookie cutter approach that all farms are the same. This not only helps in cost savings but also aids in your farms productivity, a win-win for the owner and farmer.

The bottom line is if we're already farming for you, or you are considering us as tenants. The ability to lay field tile at percentage of the cost others will charge is a mutually beneficial opportunity for landlord and tenant. If you are interested in learning more about these services, and willing to invest some capital in something with a quick cost recovery period that will increase your property value give us a call and we will be glad to sit down and discuss the opportunities.