By Tim Gieseke
“Precision” has been the trend in agriculture for the last few decades. Advancements like auto-steering, yield monitors, remote sensing/imagery, and variable rate technologies have allowed farmers to be more efficient and productive, and to lessen impacts on water, natural resources, and the environment. So, how does “precision” apply to drainage?
Advancements in technology can mean greater access. Farmers now have access to equipment to install their own drain tile systems, such as tile plows to install plastic corrugated tile with high-horsepower tractors (bypassing the need for commercial self-propelled trenching machines), and GPS technologies enabling the centimeter-level, real-time vertical slope accuracy for gravity-fed systems.
However, farmers should proceed with caution. Precision drainage is much more than using the latest tech to ensure the correct depth and pitch of drainage lines. Precision drainage is about using the soil characteristics and topography of the field effectively, to capture soil water in the most efficient and cost-effective manner, maintain a uniform water table across the field, and include the option to control the amount of water that leaves the field depending on seasonal trends and crop needs.
Farmers (and their contractors) should ask themselves if the drainage systems they’re implementing are true “precision” drainage systems, or might they be using precision technology to implement non-precision systems. For example, designing a drain tile system in parallel lines of uniform distances apart may be an indicator that precision drainage techniques were not used, as most fields are not that uniform in soils and topography.
Source : umn.edu