By Madelyn Celovsky
Any farmer who has had a tile backup or blowout knows how excess water can negatively affect their crop. Subsurface tile drainage removes excess water from the soil to create good fieldwork and crop growth conditions on poorly drained soils. When properly designed, installed and maintained, subsurface drainage systems can perform well for decades. However, many design, installation and management considerations can lead to the under performance of subsurface drainage systems. For the August 3 edition of the MSU Extension Field Crops Virtual Breakfast Series, Dr. Ehsan Ghane, MSU Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering assistant professor and MSU Extension specialist, will describe how to identify and correct underperformance issues. Underperformance from root clogging, sediment clogging, soil compaction and under design will be discussed.
Following Dr. Ghane’s presentation, Michigan’s state climatologist, Dr. Jeff Andresen, will provide a much-anticipated weekly weather summary and forecast.
The Michigan State University Extension Field Crops Virtual Breakfast series will run every Thursday from March 30 through Sept. 21, 7 – 8 a.m. EDT live via Zoom. Farmers, agribusiness personnel and others interested in agriculture can interact with MSU Extension specialists and educators to get their questions answered. Michigan pesticide applicators can earn enough restricted use pesticide (RUP) credits during the season to recertify their credential. One RUP credit (1A, 1B, Comm or Private Core) and one continuing education unit (CEU) for Certified Crop Advisors (CCA) are available with each live session.