Iowa Farmer Today
10-28-06
Research shows field tile pays, but just how much
By Tim Hoskins, Iowa Farmer Today
ROWLEY -- With most of Iowa’s farmland drained with tile, most producers know
it pays to tile a field.
The addition of yield monitors in combines have helped farmers see yield
differences where tile is located and in between lines.
“Yield monitors have sold most field tile in recent years,” says Lyle Recker with
Recker Construction near Oelwein.
Recker says most of his jobs now are installing tile between existing lines or
replacing lines.
Most of the tile is still good. But, technology has improved to include lasers and
machinery instead of hand digging lines as in the past.
“Everyone knows it pays to tile,” says Tim Rasmussen with Rasmussen Drainage
Services in Northeast Iowa.
While yield monitors and most farmers know it, the question is how much does it
pay to tile a field?
Matt Helmers, Iowa State University ag engineer who specializes in farm
drainage, encourages producers to figure out the benefits before tiling a field.
To start calculating the benefits of tiling, the first consideration should be cost.
Helmers and the drainage contractors say $500 per acre is a good figure to use
when estimating tile installation cost.
The life of tile is fairly long.
Terry Hurley, University of Minnesota Extension economist, estimated the life of
a tile line to be 50 years. He uses a computer file to weigh the benefits of
installing tile in a field.
Recker, who has been installing tile since the 1950s, says he finds clay tile lines
that are working fine.
However, Rasmussen and Recker say installation and maintenance play the
largest role in the life of a tile line. Hurley has a 15-year deprecation schedule for
tile in his program.
While talking about costs, Rasmussen reminds farmers they may be losing
money if they don’t tile.
“You are paying for it any way,” he notes.
He is referring to the lost yield potential from a non-tiled field.
In tiled fields, Helmers says studies show a yield boost of 10-45 bushels per acre
for corn and 10 bu./acre for soybeans.
The reason for the wide range in the corn yield increase is due to differences in
soil types and weather.
Hurley has a computer program and file on his Web site that can be printed out
to help figure the cost of draining a farm field.
The benefits of installing tile might be more important as more farmers go to notill farming.
Rasmussen says tillage was a way to warm up and dry out the soil. With no-till,
tile is an alternative to dry out the soil in the spring.
The yield benefit might be tied to getting into the field on the optimal date, which
is at the end of April for corn in Iowa, says Rick Mattheisen, a certified
agronomist with Carson and Barron Farms in Rowley.
Generally, there are seven days to plant corn in that window, he says.
With the amount of cropland and machinery farmers typically have, they can
plant about 2,000 acres in seven days, he says.
That does not leave much room for a weather delay.
While a farmer will likely see a benefit to installing tile, it is not a given for the
landowner.
There are some reports of farmers willing to pay more cash rent for tiled land.
However, with the demand for cropland as high as it is at the moment, some
farmers are willing to pay the same amount if the land is tiled or not, says
Rasmussen.
And a tiled field is only as good as the condition of the tile.
“Bad tile is worse than no tile,” says Rasmussen.