Tiling Wet Land: How Agricultural Drainage Systems Help Farmers & Their Communities
To farm successfully, farmers of all types must have access to land that will support and nurture the crops or livestock they depend upon to earn a living. Land located in areas that are prone to arid or drought-like conditions can often be irrigated to make it useful. However, land that is located in low lying or swampy areas can represent a more difficult problem due to excessive moisture that prevents the farmer from utilizing it to its fullest potential. If you are a farmer struggling with an area of your farm that is too wet for planting and tending crops or housing or pasturing livestock, the following information on using drainage tile for agricultural drainage systems can help you reclaim your land.
A historic and useful past
Drainage tiles for agricultural use offer a convenient, lasting way to eliminate large areas of standing water and help remove excessive moisture from the subsoil of both small and large areas of land. An old practice, drainage tile has been used to reclaim marshland, swamps and other areas afflicted by excessive soil moisture for hundreds of years. In fact, an 1850 Act of Congress helped incentivize Indiana farmers to do the work of installing drain tile and reclaiming swamp land for farming by offering them the land at a discounted price.
Additional benefits
In addition to reclaiming land for agricultural use, agricultural drainage systems such as drainage tile can also offer additional benefits to the farmer and the surrounding community. These include:
- helping to prevent erosion by draining away excessive rainfall and melting snow
- helping to minimize the effects of flash flooding by helping to speed the draining of flood waters away from the land
- helping to eliminate standing or stagnant water that can harbor mosquitoes and bacteria that could present a potential health risk
- helping to use the subsoil to filter nutrient laden water to reduce the levels of phosphorus and other nutrients that are sometimes associated with environmental issues, such as fish kills and algae blooms
Before beginning any agricultural drainage system project
If your farm would benefit from the installation of one or more agricultural drainage systems, remember to begin by checking all applicable state, federal and local regulations that might apply to your particular parcel of land. If your state participates in a soil and water conservation district program or something comparable, consider discussing the size and scope of your farm's soil moisture problem and your plans for using an agricultural drainage system to to alleviate it before beginning your project.
For more information, contact experts in this field, like those at Hazel Brothers Drainage LLC.