Scott Johnson and his son, Ryan, appreciate the backbreaking work their ancestors did 100 years ago to lay clay drainage tiles by hand. The northern Iowa fields they now farm wouldn't be nearly as productive, and in many places could be out of production, without the good drainage outlets those tiles still provide.

"Think how hard that must have been [laying tile by hand]. It's a good thing for us they had the guts to do it. Otherwise, we would not be farming here today," Ryan Johnson says.

The family is still laying tile. But instead of using horse-drawn plows or monstrous steam-driven devices as their ancestors did, the 21st-century Johnsons use high-horsepower tractors, hydraulic plows and GPS guidance. They can lay more tile in a day than Ryan's great-grandpa could have done in weeks.

Since GPS technology broke onto the scene a few years ago, hardware and software manufacturers have targeted tiling -- both by contractor and by farmers -- as a burgeoning market.

Before GPS, using lasers and surveyor's tools was the high-tech approach to tiling. It was a revolution of its own a few decades ago. But as good as that system was and still is, it has some disadvantages. First, it usually took at least two people to take measurements. Then, mathematical calculations (and the errors they can foster) are necessary to devise a tile map. On windy days, the laser beam can shake and throw off the system. And hills can block line of sight and laser beams.

GPS-based systems have none of those disadvantages. They are so quick and so simple that some tiling veterans worry they make laying tile too easy ... or at least easy enough to create mistakes. More on that later.

Scott Johnson has "planted pipe" for about 13 years, with Ryan helping on and off through school before joining the operation full time three years ago. When he started, the family (including Scott's brother John Johnson) used surveyor's tools. "It was pretty labor-intensive just to map the field," Scott Johnson says.

In the fall of 2009, the Johnsons switched to a GPS-based system, using their existing Trimble guidance system and Farm Works software. First step is to set up a Real Time Kinematic (RTK) base station in the field, much like they used to set up a laser on a tripod. (RTK is necessary to achieve the three-dimensional elevation accuracy required for tiling.) They then use a Trimble FmX GPS display in the cab of a pickup to do a preliminary run over the field to collect elevations. That data is used to design a drainage plan/layout, with depth and grade ... all without having to do the calculations and legwork involved with laser systems.

With an FmX in the tractor cab for guidance and a receiver on the plow for depth/grade control, they are ready to plant pipe. The Johnsons use Trimble's Field Level II software to keep the tile plow on the correct depth/grade. The software provides a cross-sectional graph of each tile line right in the cab, telling the Johnsons exactly how deep and how much grade will be on any given point of each tile line. This precision allows for maximization of grade, thus providing the most flow/capacity possible for each line.

The new system "has increased our efficiency by 30 to 40%," John Johnson says. "That means more feet in a day."

Advantages

Tiling is a passion for Arlington, Ky., farmer Darren Grogan. He estimates he has planted about 6 million feet of drain tiles in the last 10 years on the 10,000-plus acres he farms. He laid most of that tile using lasers. But last year, he used a GPS-based system with Trimble receivers and Pipe Pro software from AGPS. He says the GPS way is "25% more efficient" than the laser-based way.

For Grogan, tiling wet ground widens the planting window in the spring, which is important with all those acres. He figures he can plant some of his tiled fields a month sooner than when they were not tiled. That extra month can help his corn tassel before the hottest days of summer, which means better yields. On average, Grogan says, he has raised his corn yields per acre from 175 bushels to 215 bushels since he has been tiling. Of course, tiling can't take all the credit for those increases. A final benefit Grogan sees to tiling: Fields that drain well are more likely candidates for no-till, which saves time and trips across the field.

Spreading Ideas

Farmers in North Dakota's Red River Valley -- where rain used to be as sparse as its population centers -- traditionally have not had much use for drainage tile. But for the last 18 years, North Dakota has been in a wet cycle, and Tom Scherer, an associate professor of agricultural engineering at North Dakota State University, says the extra moisture has led some farmers to discover the value of tiling.

Rising land and commodity prices make land improvements like tiling attractive. "A lot of young guys are looking at the future, and they want fields that are reliable," Scherer says.

Young Dakota farmers have no history with the laser technology, but they cut their teeth on autosteer; GPS-based tiling systems do not intimidate them.

These tiling novices also don't have preconceptions about how drainage systems should be designed. They are likely to experiment with spacings unheard of in traditional tiling areas such as Minnesota, Iowa and Ohio.

The question of spacing is an intriguing one because the ease of tile installation has a lot to do with how far apart a farmer or tile contractor sets lines. Spacings of 100 feet made a lot of sense when it took mules and muscle to lay lines. Now that it's tractors and computers doing the work, it's worth asking whether 30-foot spacings make more sense.

Norm Fausey has studied drainage tile systems since he was an 11-year-old watching itinerant tiling crews unload clay tiles in his father's farmyard. Now he is a USDA Agricultural Resource Service soil scientist at Ohio State University and is widely considered the expert on drainage systems. He is concerned by the lack of expertise of some people installing drain-tile systems these days. Does that mean a tiling newbie can ruin a field? "No," Fausey says simply. But he cautions that mistakes can be costly to efficiency and to the environment.

The obvious concern is nutrient runoff. What is in the water running through tiles, and where is it going? Other questions for would-be tilers: What soil types are most likely to clog your tiles? Where should you put filter socks to solve the problem? What size pipe should you use?

To answer such questions, Fausey and Scherer both advise beginners to attend a tiling seminar. Many land-grant universities offer two- to three-day tiling schools.

Even if the new technology is no mystery to you, consider sitting in a classroom before you plant your first pipe.

How Much Does It Cost?

Let's assume you already have a GPS receiver, display and autosteer. AGPS Inc. will sell you its Pipe FM software and a valve controller for the plow for about $10,000. Or, its package including the Pipe Pro software, which is more sophisticated, is about $20,000.

Now you have to buy a tile plow. Gold Digger tile plows range from about $15,000 to about $25,000.

Some tile-plow companies offer packages. For instance, A Gold Digger tile-plow package that includes a plow and Intellislope software/monitor products can range from $24,000 to $33,000.

Visit the following web sites for more information:

www.agpsinc.com

www.intellislope.com

www.trimble.com/agriculture

Far-Out Tiling Tool

Farmers in some areas of the country have access to topographical maps made with LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology. It uses an airplane equipped with laser beams and satellite guidance. The two technologies "see" in 3-D to produce maps accurate to within 10 centimeters.

North Dakota State University's Tom Scherer says a lot of farmers in the Red River Valley get LIDAR maps as a first step to tiling. The maps can give a good overview of how water will flow.

LIDAR maps are available from the U.S. Geological Service (USGS) web site (www.usgs.gov). Regions most mapped by LIDAR include the Red River Valley of the Dakotas, areas of southern Michigan and northern Ohio and Pennsylvania, the Carolinas and parts of Louisiana.

Warning: This is complicated stuff; you may need help getting started. The USGS site offers a tutorial.

Boom Times for Tiling

Tiling technologies have gotten so user-friendly that there is something of a tiling boom in progress, says Steve Baker, president of Springfield Plastics Inc., which specializes in the manufacture and sale of drainage tiles. "We have been in business for 33 years, and the last two years have been the best."

Farming conditions have helped create that boom. Three of the last four years have been wet years in the Midwest, where much of the drainage tile is laid. During that same time, commodity prices have been great, and input costs have risen. A payback analysis tells a farmer that the potential reward for a good crop is high. The risk he faces if he can't get into his fields on time because they are too wet is also high.

Ohio State University's Norm Fausey says it's hard to quantify how much drainage tile is going into the ground today. "It [data on new tiled acres] is not part of the Census of Agriculture anymore."

But he suspects that a lot of new tile is going into fields that were already tiled. "Whereas farmers used to have 60- or 80-foot spacings, they are now going to 30 and 40 feet."

(SK)

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