How can drainage improve land productivity?

Drainage avoids crop damage from intense rain and flooding by removing excess water. It also controls soil moisture content, allowing crops to grow properly, which increases productivity and, consequently, food security. The moisture retained during the rainy season may be beneficial during the dry season.

What are the advantages of land drainage methods?

An efficient drainage scheme will eliminate waterlogging, reduce compaction, allow easier maintenance and more flexible management of valuable resources. Improved drainage will result in improved soil structure, fewer weeds, better sward and more economical use of fertilisers.

What are disadvantages of drainage?

The main disadvantage of a drainage system can be the accelerated leaching out of nitrogen and other salts, causing eutrophysation or the increase of the salt content of streams and rivers. Usually, the disadvantages can be avoided by using proper irrigation methods and keeping the irrigation water standards.

Why do farmers drain their land?

Drainage ensures good soil structure which is good for root development. Drainage systems in farms can stop soil erosion; if water sits in soil for a long period of time, the soil can start to erode, meaning your crops have a reduced chance of success.

How long has agricultural drainage been going on?

Agricultural land drainage has been going on for centuries . . . and that’s a very long time. It has actually helped to shape the land we see today, land used for agricultural as well as land used for wildlife conservation and the landscapes that we have become so accustomed to seeing every single day.

What are the benefits of improving land drainage?

Benefits of improved drainage to a grassland farmer: The foremost benefits of land drainage are:

Is it good to use yield mapping for soil drainage?

Kirk Hill, senior soil and water engineer at Adas, says investing in land drainage makes good business sense, adding that growers can use yield mapping to help them pinpoint problem areas. “Increased use of yield maps is helping to flag up poorer-yielding areas and making growers question whether it could be due to a hidden soil drainage issue.”

Is it good to have drainage system in your garden?

Now growers are rediscovering the advantages of effective land drainage and securing the full potential of their land. Kirk Hill, senior soil and water engineer at Adas, says investing in land drainage makes good business sense, adding that growers can use yield mapping to help them pinpoint problem areas.

When did agricultural field drainage begin and end?

Agricultural field drainage activity was particularly prevalent towards the end of the 19th century when it’s estimated that around 12 million acres of land was drained between 1840 and 1890 – that’s a lot of land and a lot of drainage ditches.

What was the purpose of the drainage system?

Other smaller scale agricultural drainage schemes were much more localized and only affected individual fields or plots of land – drainage systems installed by famers in order to divert water from water-logged land making it more useful for the grazing of livestock or the growing of agricultural crops.

What was the effect of the Illinois drainage law?

If the law had limited the right of the owner to drain higher land just as it had been drained in a state of nature, the law would have been of little real advantage, for the improvement of land necessarily changes the amount of water drained and the speed of its flow. The law, however, does not so limit the rights of landowners.