October 27, 2015
2015 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.COM Page 13
farmer with the lost crop nearby might have a
tendency to disagree.
When water rises in a creek or river, the
increased depth comes with an increased
speed of the water flow. While the water
is within the banks, the speed of the flow
increases the potential for bank erosion. This
is what we have seen over hundreds of years
as small streams grow in width and depth
and become creeks or rivers, and ultimately
swallow up the land on either side. When the
water reaches the point of escaping the banks,
the flow speed automatically slows, causing a
reduction in bank erosion.
Dickerson said the good part about waterway
flooding is that while the water rises quickly,
it goes down quickly as well. But, when
it does go down, it leaves behind in some
fields the second type of flooding Dickerson
called “ponding.” Generally speaking, corn
and soybeans both like consistent moisture
through the growing period, but they don’t
like “wet feet.” When creek bed flooding
occurs, water enters the fields, but then in a
few days may be gone. Depending on the
stage the crop is it, it can survive that type of
flooding.
Ponding, on the other hand, leaves water at
the base of the plants for extended periods
of time, and the crop is more likely to
be damaged or lost completely. In these
scenarios, field tiling may help or not, it is
going to depend on whether or not the entire
field is low-lying, and what the options are for
diverting the water flowing from the tiling.
Dickerson said before tiling; the first need is
a good ditch. When draining excess water
from a field, it is important to stick with the
mantra “do no harm.” Making sure that the
water doesn’t flow into roadways or onto the
neighboring fields is going to be important.
So, first find or create a good ditch. If that
isn’t possible, then tiling may not be an
option.
Looking at the photo from LDN, Dickerson
noted the presence of a levy. The levy runs
between a woodland and a farm field. It was
probably put there to channel water from the
creek to the wooded area and away from the
field. This year, the field still flooded. He said
that while there is a levy there now, adding
to it or creating a new levy is not going to be
an option. He said that the levy system was
under the management of the Army Corp of
Engineers and the Office of Water Resources.
He noted in his 40 years with Illinois
Conservation, he has never seen a request
for a new levy in Logan County get approval
from those two entities.
Continued
