Potato producers’ water-management success story
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WATER MANAGEMENT
Corduroy Plains potato producers John Goff and Eric Smith have
implemented a tile drainage and reservoir system on a section of
their farm southeast of Carman.
“We’ve tile drained well over 7,000 acres, so you can imagine
all the innovative ideas I’ve had to come up with to actually get
approvals to tile drain every piece of land,” he said.
Goff has used his past experience in mechanical engineering
to try a number of drainage strategies over his past 14 years
in farming.
The two types of farmland drainage – surface and subsurface
– can both be used in a drainage program. Surface drainage is
a series of drains cut on the lands’ surface with the aids of topographic
mapping. Subsurface is tile drainage that allows the land
to drain into a grid of underground piping.
When Goff started out his hunt for water management solutions,
he was unable to obtain a permit for surface drainage, as the
water would have gone across other farmlands until it reached a
provincial waterway.
“So I couldn’t get permission from anyone, obviously, and I probably
wouldn’t give them permission to have their tile outlet drain
across the middle of my farmland either.”
Because of the sandy/clay soils comprising Goff’s farmland, he
decided subsurface tile drainage was an even better answer.
Because there’s no municipal drainage outlet nearby, he had to
outlet to a reservoir to house water he’d then use for irrigation.
He also installed an irrigation line to the Boyne River that would
both fill the irrigation reservoir and relieve it when the tile water
filled it about safe levels.
“If you’re a potato farmer, especially if you have very sandy land,
you have to have internal water drainage because it has to go
down through the soil,” Goff explained. “In some areas of the
province, like out around Carberry, the subsoil is gravel and goes
down to an aquifer. In our area, we have a clay base or subsurface,
so the water just sits on that top layer.”
Goff calls what happens with a clay/sand subsurface “the
bathtub effect.”
“Once it would fill up and get full, the growing conditions didn’t
really happen. The plants couldn’t breathe,” he said.
So he hired Innovative Drain Tile Ltd. to bury four-inch drain
tiles every 50 feet, with all the outflow eventually ending up at
the reservoir.
“I irrigate all the land in that area out of that irrigation reservoir,”
Goff said. “It works great.”
The original reservoir – made of soil with a one-meter thick clay
liner – was built in 2005 at 120 acre-feet. He expanded it to 240
acre-feet about 10 years later.
In the spring, Goff fills his reservoir from the Boyne River. The tile
drainage from all six surrounding quarter sections go to a central
lift station, which is then lifted into the reservoir.
“I leave about two feet of free space in the reservoir when I fill it
in the spring if I get into a really wet year,” he explained. “If the
tile drainage keeps putting more water into the reservoir, then I’ll
use the irrigation system to pump water back to the Boyne River.”
During the time he’s had this set-up, Goff said he’s only had to
relieve the reservoir once.
The multi-component project evolved over a long stretch of time
so Goff couldn’t give an exact cost figure – only that typical tile
drainage is about $1,000 an acre.
In his experience, it’s a trial and error process that has involved a
few kicks at the can. However, he said his system is now working
very well. He feels good about reclaiming the water – especially
in dry years. He recommends to anyone planning to build an
irrigation reservoir to look at different possible locations and put
the reservoir in a location where it’s possible to reclaim tile water.
“I think at the end of the day, you have to look at all your different
options in that particular situation and figure out what works the
best,” he said.
Goff predicts this spring will be “fantastic” in terms of reclaiming
irrigation water.
“We’ve got just enough snow, and there’s going to be good
runoff from the river. I think there will be good local runoff.
It’s great.”
See picture on page 19
18 § Manitoba Farmers’ Voice § Spring 2019
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