Tile drainage can get you through wet times
LANGHAM, SASK. – At $1,500 per acre, installing tile drainage isn’t an easy decision. But after the spring of 2026, with rain and more rain, some Saskatchewan farmers may be wondering if the investment is worth the money.
Parts of of the province received near-record precipitation in June, with 150-200 mm falling in the last week of the month.
In eastern and central Saskatchewan, drowned-out patches of canola, wheat and other crops were a common sight this July in fields next to the Yellowhead Highway. It’s difficult to estimate how much cropland won’t be productive because of excess moisture, but hundreds of thousands of acres may generate little or no yield in 2026.
As a result, more producers called Olaf Boettcher this spring and summer. Boettcher is the owner of Precision Drainage Solutions, a tile drainage company in Aberdeen, Sask.
Boettcher gets inquiries about tile drainage from across the province, but much of the interest comes from the black soil zone.
“The higher productive land … (in the) Melfort and Tisdale region. There is interest there and quite a few existing customers,” said Boettcher, who had a booth from July 21-23 at Ag in Motion, an outdoor farm show near Langham, Sask.
Why it Matters: Does tile pay off? The argument for tile hinges on higher yields, recovering acres lost to flooding and higher land values.
Boettcher brought his tile plow to Ag in Motion to show producers how it works.
You can find all our coverage of Ag in Motion here.
The machine, which costs about the same as a combine, cuts a trench in the soil and lays perforated plastic pipe in the opening. In the simplest terms, tile drainage removes water that exceeds a field’s water-holding capacity. It does this by lowering the water table.
A typical tile drainage system has three components:
- Lateral lines of perforated pipe that collect excess water from a field;
- Tile mains or headers that transport that water below ground; and
- Outlets operated by gravity or mechanical means that pump the water into a ditch or other collection area.
The cost of installation depends on the project, but it usually ranges from $1,200 to 2,000 per acre, Boettcher said.
“The majority of projects land close to that $1,500 per acre.”
Precision Drainage Solutions attracts a lot of repeat business from existing customers.
After a producer installs tile on a poorly-drained piece of a field, they will initiate another project in a different part of the farm.
“We see guys do their worst ground, they start out with a small project,” said Boettcher.
Other producers will choose to jump in with both feet, by installing tile under an entire field.
Will tile become more commonplace in Saskatchewan?
Tiling land is almost a standard practice in Ontario. In Manitoba, farmers have installed tile under land used to produce potatoes and other high-value crops.
At the Precision Drainage Solutions booth at Ag in Motion, the company had a sign that summarized the business case for tile — higher crop yields, recovering lost acres and higher cropland values.
The Saskatchewan Water Security Agency is part of a four year study near Outlook, Sask., looking at tile drainage and what it means for water flow and quality.
“We know that tile is being used in many other jurisdictions quite intensively, but Saskatchewan is unique,” said Krystal Tendler of the Water Security Agency.
“Our soil is unique, our hydrology is unique and we have to apply some of the learnings from other jurisdictions and see it for ourselves and how it’s going to work in Saskatchewan.”
While many producers see immediate benefits, others say the return on investment can take years.
At Precision Drainage Solutions, Boettcher continues to get work from existing customers, who want to “fix” other parts of their farm.
He’ll will be busy this fall, as September to November is the primary time for installing tile on the Prairies. Several projects are already booked, but there’s always room for more, Boettcher said.
“We don’t turn down work,” he said at Ag in Motion.