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 For the producer, this was a profit stealing blow, which may have
caused them to take a second look at some of their fields, and
consider what the next step would be in making that field more
profitable.
For many in Logan County, the answer may have been field tiling.
Those in the business of tiling are extra busy this year, due
possibly in part to the reality of flooded-out crops and lost
revenues this year.
Fortunately for those who can tile, the worst of the worst may be
over. But, there are times when tiling works, and times when it does
not.
Speaking recently with Bill Dickerson of the Illinois Soil and Water
Conservation office in Lincoln, he briefly outlined the choices area
farmers have when it comes to controlling flooding.
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First, Dickerson said there is more than one type of flooding.
Looking at a photo taken from the air on July 13th by LDN, Dickerson
noted that there were two flooding scenarios going on in the
picture. The photo clearly showed a creek or stream in the lower
right-hand corner, where water had escaped the banks and flowed into
nearby fields and woodlands.
Dickerson noted that from a conservation standpoint, this was not a
bad thing, though the farmer with the lost crop nearby might have a
tendency to disagree.
When water rises in a creek or river, the increased depth comes with
an increased speed of the water flow. While the water is within the
banks, the speed of the flow increases the potential for bank
erosion. This is what we have seen over hundreds of years as small
streams grow in width and depth and become creeks or rivers, and
ultimately swallow up the land on either side. When the water
reaches the point of escaping the banks, the flow speed
automatically slows, causing a reduction in bank erosion.
Dickerson said the good part about waterway flooding is that while
the water rises quickly, it goes down quickly as well. But, when it
does go down, it leaves behind in some fields the second type of
flooding Dickerson called “ponding.” Generally speaking, corn and
soybeans both like consistent moisture through the growing period,
but they don’t like “wet feet.” When creek bed flooding occurs,
water enters the fields, but then in a few days may be gone.
Depending on the stage the crop is it, it can survive that type of
flooding.
Ponding, on the other hand, leaves water at the base of the plants
for extended periods of time, and the crop is more likely to be
damaged or lost completely. In these scenarios, field tiling may
help or not, it is going to depend on whether or not the entire
field is low-lying, and what the options are for diverting the water
flowing from the tiling.
Dickerson said before tiling; the first need is a good ditch. When
draining excess water from a field, it is important to stick with
the mantra “do no harm.” Making sure that the water doesn’t flow
into roadways or onto the neighboring fields is going to be
important. So, first find or create a good ditch. If that isn’t
possible, then tiling may not be an option. Looking at the photo
from LDN, Dickerson noted the presence of a levy. The levy runs
between a woodland and a farm field. It was probably put there to
channel water from the creek to the wooded area and away from the
field. This year, the field still flooded. He said that while there
is a levy there now, adding to it or creating a new levy is not
going to be an option. He said that the levy system was under the
management of the Army Corp of Engineers and the Office of Water
Resources. He noted in his 40 years with Illinois Conservation, he
has never seen a request for a new levy in Logan County get approval
from those two entities.
 So, if tiling doesn’t work and the producer can’t build a levy,
what other options are there. Dickerson said, first of all, the
farmers who have owned and farmed this land for a generation or
more, know the land is prone to flooding, and they are used to that.
For them, it is one of the consequences of having low lying land.
The question for the producer then becomes, how many bad years can
we tolerate?
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Dickerson said each producer is going to have to determine that
threshold for him/herself. Maybe it is going to be that one lost
crop for every three or four good crops is worth continuing to farm
the land. Or maybe four or five lost years out of ten is going to
make the field a lost cause. Only the producer can decide when
enough is enough.
But when he or she does decide to stop farming the land, there are
still options for making money from the acreage. Dickerson said in
the photo, the first thought is that the ground could become part of
the Farm Service Agency Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
Dickerson said that the enrollment in CRP goes through the FSA
office, and then is passed on to his office. Soil and Water
Conservation then works to determine what type of conservation
should go into the land. At first glance, he said the goal would be
to return the land to its “pre-settlement” condition, which, in this
case, could mean returning it to woodland.
So when is tiling profitable? Dickerson said there are many, many
acres in Logan County that would benefit from tiling. He said it is
important to remember that in pre-settlement days, a vast majority
of the land in Logan County was swampy. While the ingenuity of
William Scully in claiming farm ground from swamps in upper Logan
County is a vital part of the Logan County history, Dickerson said
there were plenty of other places in Logan County that were also
swampy in the beginning. He said many of those soils, even at higher
elevations are still wet due to the nature of their soil
composition. Because of this, when rains do occur, the soils become
saturated faster than naturally dry soils.
The issue with saturated soils is two-fold. Too much water promotes
shallow root growth that affects stand-ability in corn and can cause
new issues during harvest time, even if the crop is good. In
addition, when the soil is holding water, it has no room for air.
Consider that plants of all types are living breathing things. The
root system is like the lungs of the plant. The lungs require air
for the plant to grow and take up water and nutrients. When there is
no air, the plant suffocates.
Field tiling can help reduce that level of saturation, and increase
the air in the soils, thus making for a healthier plant that is more
apt to receive the proper proportions of water, nutrient, and
oxygen.
And, it does pay off economically when a field has a low threshold
for saturation. Consider that tiling may cost $400 to $500 per acre.
Simply put, if the result is increased yields of even 25 bushel to
the acre, the increased gross revenue from the crop can increase as
much as $100. Without considering the cost of any other inputs, that
field tile could pay for itself in as little as five years. In
addition, field tiling will add to the value of the land. Increasing
the value of the land will have a positive effect on the net worth
of the farm, and will also have a positive impact if the farmland
goes up for sale. You will also want to check with the Logan County
Assessor's Office on how much the improvement might raise the
property tax.
So, the bottom line question, is it time to invest in field tiling?
Looking back on 2015, between June 1 and July 15, Logan County, in
general, received over 20 inches of rain. But the big guess is, will
that repeat in 2016? Considering that just a couple of years ago, we
were talking about surviving a drought, trying to predict what 2016
will bring is going to be pretty tough. But for many in the area,
perhaps the ‘better safe than sorry’ attitude will prevail.
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