When does it make sense to re-tile cash crop fields?
That’s a thought process that Mount Brydges, Ont., farmer Larry Cowan shares with RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin in this report, recorded earlier this summer.
Cowan has been retiling an average of 150 acres each year for the past eight years. In this field, which was tiled in 1962, he’s putting in a 14-inch main that will branch off into 12-inch and 10-inch laterals. The soil is sandy loam so tile is laid every 30 feet.
After a wet summer in 2024, Cowan says the new tile will help improve the field by removing water from hollows within one day to prevent crop damage. “Over time, we seem to be getting bigger and heavier rains, and all the water runs to the hollows. And even though there’s tile drain under the hollows, it seals off, we don’t get the water moving, and we lose crop.”
Moving water more efficiently off the field should allow for earlier planting and enable fields to recover faster from fall rains that delay harvest. He is also looking to improve nutrient uptake.
Cowan has already seen a strong return on his tiling investment. He notes that a 15-acre section of the field that was re-tiled 8 years ago consistently delivers higher crop yields. “Every time we hit that line, the corn yield jumps up 30 bushels and soybean yields jump up 10 [bushels]. So with those kind of yield improvements, overall we’re talking a payback to the expense of probably 10 years, which is pretty good.” Watch the video below.
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