"Is tile worth it?" We hear that one a lot — from farmers looking at a wet bottomland corner, from landowners who inherited a field that won't dry out, from folks who've been quoted a number and want to know if the return is real. The honest answer is: it depends on your ground, your crop, and how wet it is — but there's real data now, and the numbers are clear.
This isn't a sales pitch. It's what the University of Illinois Extension actually found when they studied central Illinois farms before and after pattern tile was installed. Here's what the data says about field tile ROI — and what it means for your ground. You can also read our full drainage tile repair page.
What UIUC Extension Found — The Numbers
A University of Illinois Extension case study tracked central Illinois farms before and after pattern tile drainage was installed. Here's what the data showed:
The $113 per acre per year figure is a revenue improvement — meaning the extra yield more than covered the cost of the tile system. On corn, the payback came in under two and a half growing seasons. On soybeans, yields jumped an average of 10.5% over the five years after tile was installed compared to the five years before.
Why The Return Is So Strong On Wet Ground
The math works because saturated soil doesn't just hurt one season — it compounds. Here's what water costs you when tile isn't there:
- Standability. Wet ground means shallow roots, and shallow roots mean corn goes down. Lodged corn is harder to harvest, yields less, and often gets docked at the elevator.
- Late planting. A field that won't dry out in April or May gets planted late — and in central Illinois, every week of planting delay after mid-May costs real bushels.
- Compaction. Running equipment on soggy ground packs the soil, which makes the drainage problem worse the next year. It's a cycle.
- Uneven stands. Spots that pond during a heavy rain drown out seedlings, leaving gaps in the stand that never fill in.
- Nutrient loss. Saturated soil denitrifies nitrogen — the fertilizer you paid for turns to gas and floats away before the crop can use it.
Tile fixes the root cause. It pulls the water table down so the soil can warm up, roots can go deep, and the crop can use the full growing season. That's why the ROI isn't just a one-year bump — it shows up year after year.
What Determines Whether YOUR Field Pays Back
The UIUC numbers are real, but they're an average. Your field's return depends on a few things:
- How wet is it? A field with a few soggy corners is different from one that ponds across 30 acres. The wetter the ground, the bigger the yield recovery — and the faster the payback.
- What are you growing? Corn and soybeans both respond strongly to tile, but corn's higher per-bushel value means the dollar return per acre is usually bigger. The UIUC case study found corn paid back in under 2.5 years.
- What's the soil? Heavy clay soils (the kind that dominate central Illinois) hold water longer and benefit more from tile than sandy soils that drain on their own.
- Is there an outlet? Tile has to drain somewhere — a ditch, a creek, a main. If the outlet is far away or hard to access, the system costs more and the payback stretches.
- What's the existing tile? Old tile systems deteriorate — crushed clay tile, roots in the joints, collapsed mains. Repairing or replacing an old system can be cheaper than a brand-new install and often brings the same yield recovery.
The Honest Conversation
Here's what I tell people on the phone: if your field has spots that won't dry out, plants that yellow or die from saturated roots, or ground you can't plant on time because it's too wet — tile is almost always worth it. The UIUC data backs that up, and our experience on central Illinois ground confirms it.
But not every field needs a full pattern tile system. Sometimes the fix is a single main to drain a low spot. Sometimes it's repairing an old tile run that collapsed. Sometimes the outlet is the bottleneck and the tile itself is fine. That's why we walk the ground first — free — and tell you honestly what makes sense and what it costs.
Want to talk through your field? See our field tile repair page, or call (217) 809-0779 and we'll come look at it.