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Aberdeen MS | No chip on your shoulders, and you haven't rambled on any one bit IMO.
Even with extensive tiling, any where it is common for water to stand.... then percolate downward to disappear, one will disrupt the soil structure underneath to the point over time (that time varies for numerous reasons), that the soil becomes somewhat anaerobic. In some areas, with the right climatic conditions, deep rooted cover crops can counter act that. In other areas, economics.... as you have shown.... lead to utilizing steel to remedy that.
It is not that uncommon "up here" that even with pattern tilling 50 feet across an entire field, that at some point in time in the spring, that field will be at least 50% covered in standing water. In a somewhat "normal" spring, I've gone up and flown over my area around March 15 through April 1 and one can truly see what this area looked like 150 yrs ago. Ponds covering over 50% of the ground. Surface snow has melted, soil is still froze. tile lines haven't opened yet.
When the soil opens up in the spring and during the growing season and the water percolates downward, it takes with it the "fines" of soil from the surface and the soil structure somewhat filters the soil particle out, the structure looses the "air pockets" over time. That is disadvantageous to growing SOME crops taking away some of the microbial action underneath the surface.
"Here", the soil is just naturally "tight", somewhere in the line of 50% of all acres were at one time swamps and marshes. Naturally being a type of ground structure that is/was impervious to water. Ever try drill a water well alongside a large lake????? Have to go quite deep many times to find it, water percolation downward doesn't exist.
Notill advocates tout growing crops "natures way" in regards to soil. But by utilizing cover crops etc, they are altering away from the basic "natural soil structure" and substituting organic type of "tillage" over "steel" type tillage. Both ways are altering the natural soil structure in the basic form.
Now keep in mind, the above description is in NO WAY applicable to every acre in the US, it only applies to conditions "HERE", in this small remote area of the Mid MN River watershed. And not every acre in this watershed has these conditions either, just a percentage of them. But that percentage effects the over all economic situation we growers HAVE to deal with in order to maximize our economic potential.
You are only doing what works for you, same as we do up here. If our ways were so detrimental to crop production, our yields would have gone down over the last 100 yrs plus to the point they wouldn't grow anymore economically. But we keep getting higher and higher returns agronomically as time goes on.
You are doing OK, don't sweat it.
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Recreational tillage ... feel better already
