Subsurface tile drainage, open ditch work, and field drainage systems for farm fields and agricultural land in Central New York. Improve yields and protect topsoil.
Backwell installs subsurface tile drainage systems, open drainage ditches, and field drainage infrastructure for agricultural operations throughout McGraw, Cortland County, and the surrounding area. Proper drainage is critical to farming productivity in Central New York — wet fields delay planting, compact under equipment, and reduce yields. We solve drainage problems permanently with the right combination of tile work, outlet structures, and surface grading.
Our agricultural drainage work includes subsurface perforated tile installation at designed depths and spacing, open ditch excavation and maintenance, outlet structure installation, and integration with existing farm drainage systems. We work with farmers, landowners, and agricultural engineers to design systems that address your specific drainage challenges and meet NRCS requirements where applicable.
Contact us for a free consultation on agricultural drainage in McGraw. We will walk your fields, identify problem areas, and propose a drainage solution that works for your operation.
McGraw sits in the Trout Brook valley just east of Cortland, on the Appalachian Plateau. Valley-floor soils around the village run through Chenango gravelly loam and Howard gravelly loam on the outwash terraces, with Lordstown and Mardin channery silt loams dominating the surrounding hillsides and Wayland silt loam in the narrow floodplain itself.
Trout Brook drains west into the Tioughnioga River, and the combined watershed ties into the Cortland-Homer-Preble sole-source aquifer system that imposes stricter groundwater-protection requirements across the area. Commercial excavation in and around McGraw often deals with cobble-heavy outwash in utility trenches, shallow sandstone and siltstone bedrock on the valley walls, and seasonally perched water on the fragipan silt loam uplands. Frost depth is deeper than in lake-influenced counties to the north, pushing pavement, slab, and utility burial details. Projects along Trout Brook fall under NYSDEC stream-protection review in addition to Cortland County stormwater permitting. Projects near Trout Brook routinely require NYSDEC stream-protection review, and sole-source aquifer overlay mapping drives much of the stormwater infiltration design.