The Water Table

When the developers of ag precision software TerrainIQ asked agronomists what farmers need to be successful, every one of them said the same thing: nothing works without water management. Yet water analysis is the one piece most farm data tools leave out. Carter Quam and Mike Tveten join host Trey Allis to share what their company, Terrain, has learned since those early days and why the current version of their software compiles land, water, tile, and yield data all in one place.

Carter and Mike explain how the TerrainIQ platform uses public data to help farmers and landowners understand field performance, identify areas that can be improved, and make smart investment decisions. They dive into the ROI of tiling and talk about why the best return usually comes from productive ground that stays wet. They also offer advice on spotting undersized mains and failing tile, digitizing hand-drawn tile maps, sharing data with your tile contractor or agronomist, and how their tool takes the guesswork out of agriculture water management.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction 
01:28 What is TerrainIQ? 
02:29 Why water has been left out of precision ag
04:58 Stacking public and private data layers 
06:19 Ranking fields to find the right investment
08:03 Running ROI scenarios farm by farm 
08:29 Prioritizing farms across your operation 
09:36 Finding undersized mains and failing tile 
10:37 Yield still left on a pattern-tiled farm 
14:00 Other users of farm data 
16:29 Sharing data with your tile contractor and agronomist 
17:27 Putting decision-making power in landowners’ hands 
19:59 Adding soil sample data 
21:22 Where the data is available 
25:32 Digitizing hand-drawn tile maps 
27:32 Tile design, lift stations, and remote monitoring

Related Content:

• #114: Crumbling ag drainage infrastructure = unique upgrade opportunities
• #108: An ag real estate perspective on tiling, watersheds and wetlands
• #119: Revolutionizing drainage: improving infrastructure with technology

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Emily Krekelberg grew up with a daily reminder of just how much farm safety matters. More than 50 years ago, her father lost his leg in an auger accident on the family's dairy farm. Although Emily hadn’t been born when it happened, this family history influences her and informs the work she does, to this day.

During Emily’s graduate studies in agriculture education, she began to integrate health and safety messaging into her outreach. Now she’s the Extension Educator for Farm Safety and Health with University of Minnesota Extension, and she's built a career on a simple idea: mental health is a safety issue too.

Emily joins Jamie Duininck to talk about why farm culture makes it so hard to ask for help, how stress and fatigue affect the split-second decisions farmers make every day, and why something as small as asking, "How are you, really?" can open a door. From financial pressures to the isolation of the job itself, she breaks down why farm stress builds, and offers realistic, one-thing-at-a-time ways to take care of yourself this harvest season.

This episode contains content about mental health conditions that may be distressing. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the National 988 Crisis Line. Or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction 
01:15 From the dairy farm to a career in extension 
04:44 The auger accident that shaped her family 
07:51 Turning safety lessons into daily reminders 
12:10 The stories that stick with people 
14:36 Why mental health is harder to talk about 
16:29 Mental health as a farm safety issue 
18:48 Asking "How are you, really?" 
26:00 Small moments, big connections 
29:19 Getting ready for National Farm Safety and Health Week 
31:18 Realistic self-care during harvest

Related Content:

• #143: Facing it together: mental health in agriculture
• #86: The serious business of safety… on the road
• #47: Call before you dig

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Christy Gibson, an Illinois Distinguished Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, kept noticing the same thing on her research travels: farm fields across the Midwest standing in water after increasingly intense storms. That observation led to more questions: How do farmers work with or around waterlogged fields? How do mitigation tactics, like replanting, create inefficiencies? And what solutions can actually make a difference?

Guest host Trey Allis talks with Christy about her decision to study field inundation and her work helping farmers expand their toolbox for managing wet fields. They dig into one amendment getting a lot of attention, biochar, and discuss what it would take to use it at a farm scale. Christy also shares why a water management plan matters and what her research team hopes to learn next.

Note: This episode was recorded on June 8, 2026.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction
00:43 What it means to be a distinguished postdoc
02:32 From the Bahamas to Midwest ag research
08:22 Defining field inundation
09:46 How farmers cope with wet fields today
12:11 A tiered approach to water management
14:34 Expanding the toolbox for every landscape
16:37 Biochar as a targeted soil amendment
20:58 What exactly is biochar?
25:05 The challenge of scaling up biochar
28:22 Storms rolling in
31:00 What's next for the research

Related Content:

• #142: Minnesota's coolest drainage plots
• #110: Bridging the gap between water management research and application
• #55: How changing weather patterns impact the stability of your farm 

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Most drainage contractors grow up in the business. Nate Ludvigson and Dustin Nelson didn't. With a borrowed plow and a cousin's backhoe, Nate started Ludvigson Tiling near Madison, Minnesota almost 20 years ago. Dustin launched 605 Tile & Drain in 2021 near Summit, South Dakota, jumping in with both feet after years of farming and seeing the difference tiling made on his own farm.

Host Jamie Duininck and Prinsco's Karl Guetter sit down with Nate and Dustin to have a tailgate talk about the sacrifices of starting a business from nothing, balancing farming with contracting, the hardest jobs left in the industry, and what they hope the next 10 years look like. Near the end of the conversation, Dustin turns the tables by asking Jamie and Karl a question– wondering how AI might change the relationship between contractors and manufacturers.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction
00:30 Meet Nate and Dustin
01:24 How Nate got started
03:23 Dustin's path into drainage
05:38 Early sacrifices and challenges
07:48 Growing the farm and the business together
09:42 What Dustin would do differently
10:44 Why rural America is different
11:50 The hardest jobs left in the industry
12:47 Working in high water table conditions
13:24 Looking ahead 10 years
15:00 Turning the questions back on Karl and Jamie
15:53 How AI might change the industry
19:42 Closing thoughts

Related Content:

• #118: Accidental advocate for the drainage industry
• #100: On the road at ISU! Talking past, present, and future of ag water management

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As the chief agricultural economist and senior vice president at Wells Fargo's Agri-Food Institute, Dr. Michael Swanson has a big-picture understanding of energy markets and the economy of agribusiness. He stops by The Water Table to help us make sense of the impacts of the war in Iran and how the markets might continue to react.

What can we expect crude oil prices to do? What about commodity prices? How does this situation compare with the Russia-Ukraine war? Michael shares his wisdom on these topics—and an old adage or two—to keep the current situation in perspective and offer encouragement for farmers to seize the right opportunities for success.

Note: This episode was recorded on June 5, 2026.

Chapters
00:00 - Introductions
02:10 - Systems thinking and never-ending stories
05:28 - Challenging the popular narrative
11:02 - An opportunity to make money in this market
12:04 - Crude oil costs and stockpiling resources
16:10 - Global feedstock and energy markets
17:05 - A closer look at the numbers
19:10 - Fixing the cash rent problem
25:09 - Looking back and ahead
30:12 - Final thoughts

Related Content
#144: The Iran war and pipe prices
#52: An Ag Economist Tells All: Critical Topics Impacting the Future of Agriculture 

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Kyle Whitcomb was nine years old when his grandpa started teaching him about the family business. He now runs that business, Whitcomb Farm Drainage, out of Lake Lillian, Minnesota. He’s focused on meeting his customers’ needs, and one way he does that is by using a v-plow to install pattern tiling. This approach minimizes disturbance to the soil, reducing ruts and erosion while preserving topsoil and nutrients.

Kyle shares what he’s learned from years of using this trenchless installation method, talks through its pros and cons, what beet farmers especially love about it, and why it’s more commonly used in Europe. On a more personal note, Kyle shares a little about being the third generation in his family to run the business, the paths his siblings have taken, and what the future might look like for his family and business.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:30 Why a v-plow?

03:54 Comparing field heal times

04:40 Pattern tiling in no-till systems

06:00 Why beet farmers love v-plow installation

07:25 V-plow vs straight shank plow

09:30 The future of v-plowing in ag drainage

12:24 Variations and popularity in Europe

14:17 Kyle’s custom intake boxes

19:00 The legacy of the Whitcomb family business

Related Content:

• #127:  Cover Crops and No-Till: A Conservationist’s Perspective 
• #97: Stay Curious– Life Lessons from One Contractor to Another 
• V-Plow for Victory in Rut Reduction

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Two months into the Iran war, Jamie welcomes back Sleiman Bassila, founder and president of BIC Advisory Group, and Tom Hughes, founder, president, and CEO of Quantum Polymers. These two polyethylene industry experts have been closely watching the events in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz and share their insights into the wide-ranging market effects of the ongoing war.

Sleiman and Tom summarize what’s happened since their last visit to The Water Table. The conversation touches on supply shortages, damaged petrochemical plants, unprecedented daily pricing increases, impacts on domestic pipe prices, and what it all means to the fertilizer supply chain. They also talk through the possibilities for recovery and how long it might take for stability to return once the war is over.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:36 A recap of recent history

05:35 Re-exporters enter the market

08:58 Impacts of petrochemical plant damage

12:00 Recovery possibilities, challenges, and timelines

18:30 Material availability, competition, and prioritization

22:32 The unprecedented pace of price increases

27:13 How lags in resin prices impact domestic pipe costs

31:09 Expectations of inflation 

32:47 What about the fertilizer supply chain?

36:28 How oil prices impact resin re-exports

38:54 Closing

Related Content:

• #144: The Iran war and pipe prices
• #124: Who pays? The impact of tariffs on U.S. and Canadian ag
• #8: Cause and effect: Plastic resin supply

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Can controlled drainage make that big of a difference in drainage flow, nitrogen loss, and overall yields? A research project in the Midwest has been studying that question since 2017, and the findings might surprise you.

Guest host Trey Allis sits down with Jeppe Kjaersgaard, a research scientist studying drainage, nitrogen management, and irrigation. Jeppe traces his journey from the family farm in Denmark to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, shares results from his controlled drainage field study, and makes a compelling case for collaborating with people across the ag industry.

Jeppe and Trey talk through the methods and findings of a controlled drainage comparison study in Wilkin County, Minnesota. The project includes two sites: a 160-acre field used to gather data on controlled drainage and a 65-acre plot used to explore the impacts of a saturated buffer. Jeppe shares what he’s learning about how different water management methods impact drainage flow, nitrogen loss, and overall yields.

Trey and Jeppe also discuss the Conservation Drainage Network, an organization made up of researchers, drainage professionals, and interest organizations, as well as federal, state, and local conservation district staff. Jeppe talks about the benefits of such a network and how it can help increase adoption of different conservation drainage practices.

Learn more about the Red River Drainage Water Management Project: https://www.mda.state.mn.us/protecting/cleanwaterfund/onfarmprojects/rrvdwmproject

Check out the Conservation Drainage Network: https://conservationdrainage.net/

Chapters:

00:00 - Introductions
01:42 - From Denmark to Minnesota
04:50 - Local differences and global similarities
06:45 - Minnesota Department of Agriculture work
08:27 - Controlled drainage comparison project
13:20 - Highlights and learnings of project
17:38 - Measuring drainage flow, nitrogen loss, and yields
20:00 - Cost analysis and planning for the future
21:58 - Saturated buffer impacts on nitrogen and water flow
26:19 - Using project data to set standards
27:47 - The Conservation Drainage Network
35:47 - Drainage is a key piece of the whole ag picture
41:40 - Closing

Related Content:

• #142: Minnesota's coolest drainage plots
• #98: Exploring Discovery Farms: A lesson in doing the homework
• #110: Bridging the gap between water management research and application
• Jeppe Kjaersgaard on the 2026 Discovery Farms Minnesota Controlled Drainage Webinar

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Just 11 days into the Iran war, Jamie hosts an in-depth discussion with two experts in the polyethylene market. Joining the conversation are Sleiman Bassila, founder and president of BIC Advisory Group, and Tom Hughes, founder, president, and CEO of Quantum Polymers.

With a combined 45 years in the industry, Sleiman and Tom contextualize current events with a brief history of the polyethylene resin market. They discuss the current situation, compare it with the 2021 freeze caused by Winter Storm Uri, cover the significance of the shipping shutdown at the Strait of Hormuz, and share their thoughts on potential short- and long-term challenges ahead for producers and consumers.

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction
02:45 - Defining terms 
03:43 - A brief history of the polyethylene market
11:04 - Winter Storm Uri and the 2021 freeze
15:05 - A chokepoint on global energy
19:02 - Cascading implications
22:44 - A dangerous situation
24:49 - Global events and impacts at home
28:13 - The importance of shipping routes
29:23 - Seeing the big economic picture
31:46 - Ongoing market volatility
33:44 - Understanding the scope of the crisis
35:00 - Higher prices, large volume buyers
38:45 - Short- and long-term effects
41:44 - Potential outcomes for the global economy
44:32 - Final thoughts

Related Content:

• #124: Who pays? The impact of tariffs on U.S. and Canadian ag
• #115: How will the 2024 election results impact ag?
• #8: Cause and effect: Plastic Resin Supply

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After a near-fatal battle with depression, Mark Meier got the help he needed to recover. That experience inspired him to co-found the Face It Foundation and help other men find connection, understanding, and healing through peer support groups. 

Mark and Jamie talk about the challenges men face when it comes to addressing mental health issues, as well as the negative impacts of avoiding those struggles. They also discuss how these challenges can show up for farmers, how rural communities may have some unique benefits when it comes to making connections, and the role of faith in recovery. 

This episode contains content about depression, suicide, and mental health conditions that may be distressing. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the National 988 Crisis Line. Or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.

For more information on the Face It Foundation visit:
https://www.faceitfoundation.org/

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction
00:30 - Coping with the ups and downs of ag
02:54 - Mark Meier and the Face It Foundation
03:30 - Mental health crisis leads to new understanding
04:15 - Identifying a connection gap and launching Face It
05:22 - Group support, deep connections, and big impacts
07:02 - Reflecting on generational differences and similarities
09:31 - Isolation, social media, and self-esteem
11:05 - Making connections in rural America
12:30 - Getting support through the Face It Foundation
15:12 - Healing through connection with others
16:16 - How peer support works
17:30 - Partnering with the Masons
18:30 - The role of faith in recovery
19:40 - The costs of disconnection and depression
22:10 - Supporting each other through life’s uncertainties
25:29 - Unique opportunities to connect in rural communities
27:22 - The power of relationships and vulnerability
28:20 - The future of the Face It Foundation

Related Content:

• #131: Schwartz Farms: A Business Built On Shared Purpose & Embracing Change
• #121: Navigating the Challenges & Opportunities of Being a Farmer
• #130: Community-Driven Conservation: Bridging Gaps, Building Resilience

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