New Eco-Friendly Practices For Agricultural Drainage

Conservation DrainagePractices bySpringfield Plastics

Water is a vital resource for Illinois agriculture, but too much water and a lack of drainage can cause agricultural and environmental impacts.

The purpose of agricultural drainage is to remove excess water from the soil so that farmers can enhance their crop production. Although their main goal is to protect their yield, now they can also protect the impacts of drainage on the environment."We have more water leaving the farms while it has the tendency to remove the nutrients and take them downstream and sometimes they have adverse consequences and we are trying to prevent that," said Springfield Plastics President Steve Baker.

Preventing those nutrients from flowing into Lake Springfield and into our water supply is why Springfield Plastics and the Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition (ADMC) are focusing on conservation drainage practices."What we're really looking towards on the drainage side is making sure that all of those inputs that the farmer puts onto his fields are staying in the fields and not flowing out of the drainage tile," said Alan Bailey, Chairman of Sangamon County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Springfield Plastics is hosting Conservation Drainage Field Day to teach farmers about three different conservation drainage practices; drainage water management, saturated buffer systems, and bioreactors.All practices that willgive farmers a first hand look at how they work and how they could benefit their farm.

"There are several benefits to all three of these practices one, there is no land taken out of production," said Baker. "The second is the managemnt side of it; this management is very simple to understand and learn how to use to be able to reduce those nutrient discharges."

Source:WICS

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Taxonomy

• Agriculture
• Drainage