Minnesota Drainage Program debuts with 'Precision Drainage' topics

Anna Freundschuch Le Sueur County employee, presents at the Minnesota Drainage Program.
Photo by: Colleen Carlson, University of Minnesota.

On March 25th 2026 University of Minnesota Extension debuted the Minnesota Drainage Program (MDP) in Le Center, the first in a series of presentations covering drainage basics, conservation drainage, and how 'precision drainage' might be the next frontier in precision agriculture strategies for Minnesota farmers and ag professionals.

In Minnesota, farmers have installed drainage systems for well over a century. It is often a 50+-year investment with a payback and profit dependent on optimizing the design and installation. With new equipment and technologies more farmers are able to install their own, resulting in a wide range of skills and strategies.This results in some systems installed sub-optimally for crop production and may severely limit precision drainage benefits and water conservation options.

To ensure farmers understand how to optimally design their systems, the Le Sueur SWCD event brought together a mix of farmers, government staff, drainage consultants and engineers, and UM Extension Educators to share recent technologies and strategies, and discuss how to modernize ag drainage systems at the field and drainage shed scales.

Scott Hansen presents examples of tile layouts.

Presentations and highlights

• Gary Sands, UM Extension, began the discussion by presenting soil and water basics relative to optimizing drain tile systems.

• Scott Hansen, East River Land Improvement, provided multiple examples of tile layouts that varied within a single field depending on the field’s soil type and contours. An objective of precision drainage is to maintain a consistent water table depth below the level that optimizes crop growth. Hansen also installs water control structures and watergates within the tile system so the farmer can optimize water table levels depending on the seasonal needs. Josh Shuler of Agri-Drain, the company that makes the water control structures, explained how the water control structures can be managed remotely from one’s phone or pre-programmed.

• Tim Gieseke, Extension Educator, introduced the DrainTool, a free online GIS software developed by Michigan State University, that allows a farmer to optimize tile spacing and depth for precision drainage designs depending on field characteristics.

• Other topics covered included what steps a farmer needs to take when thinking about drainage at the field scale, or larger county repair and improvement projects. Local and state agencies discussed various funding programs to assist farmers when installing precision drainage practices that support reductions in water and nutrient losses from the fields.

Additional venues sought

Gieseke is planning on delivering three more drainage events in 2026, and is seeking SWCDs, counties, agriculture production groups, and farmer cooperatives who want to bring precision drainage, and how it can set up entire drainage systems to optimize production and conservation goals. If you would like to participate or have additional questions, please contact Gieseke directly (contact information below).

For more information

Make sure to follow Minnesota Crop News to catch the Minnesota Drainage Program series of articles that will go more in depth on drainage basics, precision drainage, water control and conservation practices, the DrainTool, and what “modernization” of an entire drainage system, from field to watershed would look like.

For further information contact Tim Gieseke, Ag Water Management Extension Educator at tgieseke@umn.edu or 507-766-9495.

The event organizers would like to thank Houston Engineering, ISG Engineering, GK Technologies and Ellingson Drainage for their support.

—

For the latest nutrient management information, subscribe to the Nutrient Management Podcast. And don't forget to subscribe to the Minnesota Crop News daily or weekly email newsletter, subscribe to our YouTube channel, like UMN Extension Nutrient Management on Facebook, follow us on X (formerly twitter), and visit our website.

If you have questions or comments, please email us at nutmgmt@umn.edu.