6/1/24, 10:50 PM Ch 17.
Managing Water: Irrigation and Drainage - SARE
indicators, and they can be read from a distance using wireless or phone communication. Computer technology
and site-specific water and fertilizer application equipment, now available with large modern sprinkler systems,
allow farmers to tailor irrigation to sub-acre-scale localized water and fertilizer needs. Researchers have also
demonstrated that deficit irrigation—water applications that are less than 100% of evapotranspiration—can
provide equal yields with reduced water consumption and promote greater reliance on stored soil water. Deficit
irrigation is used purposely with grapevines that need a modest amount of water stress to enrich quality-
enhancing constituents like anthocyanins.
Many of these practices can be effectively combined. For example, a
vegetable grower in Australia plants on beds with subsurface drip irrigation
and uses controlled traffic (Figure 17.12). A sorghum-sudan cover crop is
planted during the wet season and mulched down after maturing, leaving a
dense mulch. The subsurface drip irrigation is installed in the beds and
stays in place for five or more years (in contrast, annual removal and
reinstallation are necessary with tilled systems). No tillage is performed,
and vegetable crops are planted using highly accurate GPS technology to
ensure that they are within a couple of inches of the drip emitters.
Drainage Figure 17.12. No-till irrigated vegetables grown
on beds with cover crop mulch. Drip irrigation
Soils that are naturally poorly drained and have inadequate aeration are lines are placed at 1–2 inches depth in the beds
generally high in organic matter content. But poor drainageNational
makes them (not visible).
North Central Northeast Southern Western
unsuitable forSustainable Agriculture
growing most crops other than a few water-loving plants like
Research and Education
rice and cranberries. When such soils are artificially drained, they become very productive, as the
News high
About organic
SARE
matter content provides all the good qualities
WHAT WEwe
DO discussed
WHERE WEin earlierGRANTS
WORK chapters.PROJECTS
Over the centuries,
RESOURCEShumans
AND LEARNING
https://www.sare.org/publications/building-soils-for-better-crops/managing-water/ 21/34
6/1/24, 10:50 PM Ch 17. Managing Water: Irrigation and Drainage - SARE
have converted swamps into productive agricultural land by digging ditches and canals, later also combined
with pumping systems to remove the water from low-lying areas. The majestic Aztec city of Tenochtitlan was
located in a swampy area of Lake Texcoco where food was grown on chinampas, raised beds that were built up
with rich mud from dug canals (the lake was subsequently drained by the Spanish and is now the Mexico City
metropolitan area). Large areas of the Netherlands and eastern England were drained with ditches to create
pasture and hay land to support dairy-based agriculture. Excess water was removed via extensive ditch and
canal systems by windmill power (a signature landscape of Holland) and later by steam- and oil-powered
pumping stations (Figure 17.13). In the 1800s and early 1900s clay drain tiles were increasingly installed (Figure
17.14, left) because they are buried and don’t require fields to be broken up by ditches. Current drainage efforts
are primarily accomplished with subsurface flexible corrugated PVC tubes that are installed with laser-guided
systems (Figure 17.14, right), and increasingly powerful drain plows allow drain lines to be installed rapidly. In
the United States, land drainage efforts have been significantly reduced as a result of wetland protection
legislation, and large-scale, government-sponsored projects are no longer initiated. But at the farm level, recent
adoption of yield monitors on crop combines has quantified the economic benefits of drainage on existing
cropland, and additional drainage lines are being installed at an accelerated pace in many of the very productive
lands in the U.S. Corn Belt and elsewhere.
Figure 17.13. Left:
the Wouda pumping station was built to drain large areas in Friesland, Netherlands, and is the largest steam pumping station ever built. It is now on the World
Heritage List. Right: A drainage ditch removes excess water and lowers the water table in newly developed lands (“polders”) in the Netherlands.
National North Central Northeast Southern Western
Benefits ofSustainable
Drainage Agriculture
Research and Education
News SARE
Drainage lowers the water table by removing water through ditches or tubes (Figure 17.15). TheAbout
main benefit is
that it creates a deeper soil volume thatWHAT
is adequately
WE DO aerated
WHERE for growing
WE WORK common
GRANTS crop plants.
PROJECTS If crops
RESOURCES are
AND LEARNING
https://www.sare.org/publications/building-soils-for-better-crops/managing-water/ 22/34
6/1/24, 10:50 PM Ch 17. Managing Water: Irrigation and Drainage - SARE
grown that can tolerate shallow rooting conditions, like grasses for pastures or hay, no artificial drainage may
be needed and the water table can remain relatively close to the surface (Figure 17.15a) or drainage lines can
be spaced far apart, thereby reducing installation and maintenance costs, especially in low-lying areas that
require pumping. But most commercial crops, like corn, alfalfa and soybeans, require a deeper aerated zone,
and subsurface drain lines need to be installed 3–4 feet deep and spaced 20–80 feet apart, depending on soil
characteristics (Figure 17.15b, c).
Figure 17.14.
Left: clay (tile) pipes were commonly used to improve drainage. Painting by L.A. Ring. Right: Flexible corrugated PVC drains allow for rapid and durable
installation. Photo by Morin Farm Drainage.
Drainage increases the timeliness of field operations and reduces the potential for compaction damage.
Farmers in humid regions have limited numbers of dry days for spring and fall fieldwork, and inadequate
drainage then prevents field operations prior to the next rainfall. With drainage, field operations can commence
within several days after rain. As we discussed in chapters 6 and 15, most compaction occurs when soils are
wet and in the plastic state, and drainage helps soils transition into the friable state more quickly during drying
periods, except for most clays. Runoff potential is also generally reduced by subsurface drainage because
compaction is reduced and soil water content is decreased by removal of excess water. This allows the soil to
absorb more water through infiltration.
Installing drains in poorly drained soils therefore has agronomic and environmental benefits because it reduces
compaction and loss of soil structure. This also addresses National
other concerns with inadequate
North Central Northeast
drainage,
Southern
like Western
high
Sustainable Agriculture
nitrogen losses through denitrification. A large fraction of denitrification losses can occur as nitrous oxide,
Research and Education
which is a potent greenhouse gas. As a general principle, croplands that are regularly saturated News during
About SAREthe
growing season should either be drained, or revertedWHERE
WHAT WE DO
to pasture or natural
WE WORK GRANTS
vegetation.
PROJECTS RESOURCES AND LEARNING
https://www.sare.org/publications/building-soils-for-better-crops/managing-water/ 23/34
6/1/24, 10:50 PM Ch 17. Managing Water: Irrigation and Drainage - SARE
National North Central Northeast Southern Western
Sustainable Agriculture
Research and Education
News About SARE
WHAT WE DO WHERE WE WORK GRANTS PROJECTS RESOURCES AND LEARNING
https://www.sare.org/publications/building-soils-for-better-crops/managing-water/ 24/34
6/1/24, 10:50 PM Ch 17. Managing Water: Irrigation and Drainage - SARE
Figure 17.15. Drainage systems lower water tables and increase rooting volume. A: undrained with pasture; B: drainage ditch; C: subsurface tube drain (tile);
and D: mole drain. The water table is indicated by a dashed line with an inverted triangle. Illustration by Vic Kulihin.
Types of Drainage Systems
Ditching was used to drain lands for many centuries, but most agricultural fields are now drained through
perforated corrugated PVC tubing that is installed in trenches and backfilled (Figure 17.14, right). (They are still
often referred to as drain “tile,” although that word dates back to the clay pipes.) Subsurface drain pipes are
preferred in a modern agricultural setting, as ditches interfere with field operations and take land out of
production. A drainage system still needs ditches at the field edges to convey the water away from the field to
wetlands, streams or rivers (Figure 17.13, right).
National North Central Northeast Southern Western
Sustainable Agriculture
Research and Education
IS DRAINAGE REALLY NEEDED? News About SARE
WHAT WE DO WHERE WE WORK GRANTS PROJECTS RESOURCES AND LEARNING
https://www.sare.org/publications/building-soils-for-better-crops/managing-water/ 25/34
