© 2024 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

What lies under the farm fields? (audio slideshow)

Lynn Davis, Farm Drainage in Ohio
Mark Brush
/
Michigan Radio
Lynn Davis' family has run a farm drainage business in northwest Ohio for 100 years.

A few years back, we at the Environment Report did a comprehensive series called, "The Ten Threats to the Great Lakes." Doing our best to make it comprehensive, we broke each of the Ten Threats into several stories.

We joked that the "Ten Threats" series turned into a 33-part series as we dug deeper into the issues.

For the series, I traveled to northwest Ohio and met with Lynn Davis. His grandfather had started a farm drainage business in 1910 using a steam powered trenching machine. Davis later took over the business from his father and uncle.

It being the age of multi-media production, I put together this audio slideshow of that visit. My goal was to give you a picture of what "farm drainage tile" is and why it's important.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxYUIOv2nTk

Mark Brush was the station's Digital Media Director. He succumbed to a year-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in March 2018. He was 49 years old.