 |
|
|
Issue 32 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Prairie Grains is the official publication of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers, North Dakota Grain Growers Association, South Dakota Wheat, Inc. and the Minnesota Barley Growers Assocation. |
|
|
|
Copyright Prairie |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Foresight for Successful Cropping Systems: Profitability Enemy #1: Excess Water. By Zachary Fore, U of M Extension Cropping Systems Specialist, There is a simple formula for profitability in agriculture: Yield x Price – Expenses = Profit. This means that to increase profitability we have to increase yield, increase price, and/or decrease expenses. Farmers need to continually work on all three of these. Which one do you think is the most important? Where should you spend most of your effort? The answer to these questions varies from farm to farm. However, a close look at available crop production and economics data reveals a clear story: The major cause of poor profitability in crop production enterprises in recent years on most farms in the Northern Plains is poor yield. You may be thinking that this is quite obvious – poor production results in poor profitability. When the most profitable operations in northwest Minnesota are compared to least profitable operations, yield is over 4 times more important than price (marketing), and more than 13 times more important than expense management. This doesn't mean you should ignore marketing or expense management. The point is that when your yield is up, your marketing and expense management efforts are much more meaningful. If production (yield) is the key to profitability, the next question we should ask is "What are the major factors limiting production?" Many possibilities come to mind. Late planting, poor stand establishment, poor weed control, diseases, delayed harvest, etc. My own observations, as well as visits with many farmers and crops specialists, indicate that excess water has been by far the factor limiting production the most in northwest MN during the past decade. Wet soils lead to many other production problems, such as delayed planting and harvest, poor stand establishment which leads to weed problems, general plant stress which leads to diseases, etc. A lot of good management decisions regarding crop and variety selection, weed control, fertilizer use, planting date, planting rate, etc. are completely negated by excess water. Until we manage water, we will not obtain the benefit of all these other good management decisions. So how do we manager water? We have a long history of surface drainage. Surface drainage is a very important component of a successful water management system. Subsurface (tile) drainage can also be a very important component. Farmers using yield monitors in areas where tile drainage is common are observing large yield responses due to tile drainage. And, they are acting on this information. In Minnesota alone, contractors have been installing 100 million feet of tile annually for the last four years. The vast majority of this tile is being installed in southern Minnesota, with very little installation in small grain growing regions of Minnesota or the Dakotas. What do farmers installing tile drainage expect to get? Primarily, increased production and reduced yield variability from year to year. They realize that high, consistent production is critical for any business. The University of Minnesota has begun several tile drainage research projects looking at economics, yields, and water quality. Results of this research are not yet available. However, an excellent long term study in Ohio demonstrated the benefits of tile drainage in combination with surface drainage, and the resulting increases in production and decreases in yield variability. You can see by the summary in the table below that the effect of proper drainage on corn yields is significant. Why isn't there more tile drainage in the Northern Plains? A key reason is that the concept is still fairly unfamiliar to many growers in these parts. To that end, Gary Sands, Agricultural Engineer at the U of M, has developed a fact sheet addressing the most commonly asked questions about tile drainage.
Below are a few of these questions and concerns about tile drainage, and some abbreviated responses to them. The entire fact sheet as well as a lot of other useful information about tile drainage is available on the web at www.smallgrains.org/drainage/home.html . Question/Concern: My fields are too flat and my soils are too heavy (too much clay) for tile drainage. Response: The amount of slope and the soil texture of a field will influence the design of the tile drainage system. Very flat fields can be tile drained. Tile can work effectively with grades as little as 6 inches per 1000 feet. Heavier textured soils will require tiles to be placed closer together. Question/Concern: What if I don't have an adequate outlet for a tile drainage system? Response: Adequate outlets can be designed where natural outlets are inadequate. An inadequate outlet can often be overcome by using a lift pump to pump water from the tile outlet up into the natural drainage system. Question/Concern: My land values aren't very high and input dollars are hard to come by. How can I justify the expense of tile drainage? Response: Land values have nothing to do with the decision to install a tile drainage system. The proper question is, "Do I get an adequate return for my investment in a tile drainage system?" Although data is currently limited on yield response to tile drainage in the small grain growing region, the growers in the region who have tile drainage have generally been quite pleased with their return on investment. Question/Concern: Tile drainage may be great in wet years, but won't I stress my crop in dry years? Response: It is important to remember that tile drainage removes excess water, but does not remove plant available water from the soil. Clearly, the greatest benefits of tile drainage are realized in wet years—but because tile drainage promotes deep root development, crops in tile-drained fields will have better access to soil moisture in dry years. Question/Concern: What will tile drainage do to downstream flow and flooding? Response: Surface drainage increases peak surface runoff rates. Tile drainage typically reduces both the volume and peak of surface runoff from agricultural fields. Tile drainage is much more likely to decrease flooding problems than increase them. Question/Concern: Could I install a tile drainage system myself, or have a neighbor do it, to cut cost? Response: This is certainly an option, but one that must be approached carefully. One of the most important considerations of your tile installer is experience and familiarity with design procedures and standards of tile drainage systems. Depth, grade, pipe size, and field layout are all extremely important in design, and will determine the quality of performance of your system. Another important consideration is installation method. Pull-type tiling machines may not perform adequately in all situations. The lifespan of properly installed corrugated plastic tile is quite long, and some that was installed over a generation ago is still performing well. Once the tile is in the ground, it's there to stay, so make sure installation is done correctly to avoid performance and longevity problems! Try it on part of your farm |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
