Drainage and Risk Management in 2019

We all know that rainfall totals throughout the Midwest this year were unprecedented. And we all know that lackluster commodities pricing hasn’t left as much at year end as in year’s past. Driving around the Midwest this year, we’ve seen significant damage to homes and buildings, and entire crops damaged by flooding. We saw many farmers leaving crop standing only for it to be tilled under later as they could not sell the product for food or feed.

In years like this, it’s hard to avoid thinking about risk management and the role it plays in farm management, at large. Farmers are always looking to the future, and drainage management has been brought to the forefront of every sustainability conversation this year.

While pattern tiling projects generate some of the greatest returns on capital invested in farmland (yes, we’re tooting our own horn here), other mitigation strategies and systems have proven vulnerable this year, and it provides a solid opportunity for farmland owners to truly assess the risks posed by their current systems. Some of these additional considerations include:

1. Buffer strips that are inadequately designed or maintained

2. Old clay or cement tile that’s overloaded or backed up

3. Terraces that are worn or inadequately sized

4. Tile holes that have restricted root development to an increasing degree

5. Inadequately designed tile systems

Obviously, farmland owners are required to consider a number of investments in their property, but this year has provided us with information that might allow us to make better investments in drainage management by identifying the relevant risks.

We know that we’ll always faced droughts and flooding. But we also know that proper risk management allows for sooner planting, reduced nitrate loss, and production of healthier crops with deeper roots. And while the benefits of these investments are immediate, they also ensure sustainable operations for future generations.