Emerging Farm Resiliency Practice Provides Significant Farm-Level and Public Benefits, New Report from EDF

October 21, 2025 - In the face of increasingly volatile and extreme weather across the midwest, a new report from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) finds drainage water recycling presents a promising strategy for farmers to manage against variable rainfall, enhance yield resilience and improve farm economics. Additionally, the practice also has the potential to provide benefits to public stakeholders in the form of improved water quality and flood mitigation in downstream areas.

"The midwest has faced major challenges with drought and floods, with some areas facing both in the same seasons," said Will McDow, Associate Vice President, Climate Resilient Coasts and Watersheds at EDF. “Drainage water recycling has great potential to help both farmers and communities manage these risks, as well as help improve water quality.”

Drainage water recycling is a multi-benefit farm strategy that captures and stores excess water from tile drainage management systems and repurposes it for irrigation. The report, Economic Analysis of Drainage Water Recycling: Opportunities for Supporting Farm Resilience and Water Quality, quantifies drainage water recycling’s implementation costs, assesses its direct and indirect benefits, and explores potential funding pathways for implementation. It was developed by EDF in partnership with ISG, a leading architecture, engineering, environmental, and planning firm, and Dr. Chris Hay, Owner and Principal Consultant of Hay Water Solutions, LLC.

“Farmers are implementing solutions that support water quality improvement but they also need to pencil out economically,” said Todd L. Sutphin, Conservation Services and Program Lead at the Iowa Soy Association. “We are encouraged to see that drainage water recycling has independent value to farmers, supporting consistent crop production and helping manage greater challenges from more variable weather.”

The report found: 

• Drainage water recycling can help farmers manage through volatile weather patterns by providing water for irrigation, which can boost crop yield income by $130 to $146 per acre annually and can be particularly useful in dry years.
• Drainage water recycling saves farmers on operating costs. Farmers can save $10-$20 per acre in annual equipment and fuel costs by using the drainage water recycling system to apply fertilizer.
• Drainage water recycling also provides significant public benefits in the form of water quality improvement and stormwater control. Drainage water recycling can improve water quality at both the farm level and within the larger watershed by reducing nutrient loads. It can also reduce runoff from storms through additional storage capacity, with benefits for farmers, landowners, and local downstream communities when done at a large enough scale.
• Implementing drainage water recycling requires significant upfront investment, with total costs typically ranging from $1.8 million to $3.3 million.
• Co-investment strategies can be effective at making drainage water recycling projects possible by distributing costs among different benefiting stakeholders. The most effective funding scenario involves landowners covering field drainage and irrigation costs, public investments supporting conservation easements and storage construction, and drainage districts funding upgrades to public drainage infrastructure

“Drainage water recycling has been gaining momentum, yet key questions remained about its cost, financial risk, and return,” said Chuck Brandel, Principal Engineer and ISG’s National Agricultural Drainage Expert. “We were excited to partner with EDF on this effort to address those information gaps and explore the best pathways to increase adoption.”

Drainage water recycling systems can be designed within a variety of drainage methods and irrigation systems. They should not be considered on previously undrained lands, as adding new tile drainage can result in negative environmental outcomes.

Further research is needed to quantify the flood benefits for public stakeholders, including the necessary scale of drainage water recycling implementation to achieve a meaningful impact.

###