I spent two years helping a friend sort out why her bottomland pasture stayed waterlogged despite what looked like excellent soil structure. Turned out there was a collapsed clay tile drainage system running under the whole parcel — installed in the 1940s, never disclosed, not on any county map we found until we hired someone who actually knew where to look. Sellers didn't know either, to be fair, but that doesn't change the repair bill.
Nobody talks about drain tile when they talk about due diligence. Everyone fixates on percolation, flood maps, soil texture. But across the Midwest and upper South, older agricultural parcels are riddled with subsurface drainage infrastructure that's either failing or completely unmapped. A failing system doesn't just cause wet spots — it can undermine your ability to plant riparian buffers, run heavy equipment, or even establish tree cover without sinkhole risk.
Before any offer on bottomland or converted cropland, I'd now insist on a tile drainage investigation as a formal contingency. Has anyone else run into this, or is this more of a regional Midwest problem than I'm assuming?