Vehicle Path Management: Key To Reducing Compaction

Efficient in-field mechanisation is a major contributor to higher yield and lower production costs. Unfortunately, mechanisation also means that machinery wheels regularly compact the soil. According to precision farming specialist Ian Beecher-Jones, traffic-induced soil damage can be limited by implementing controlled traffic farming. Denene Erasmus reports.

- Denene Erasmus

In the article ‘Controlled Traffic Farming’, published in the Soil Biology journal series on soil engineering (2010), the system of controlled traffic farming is described as a concept that was developed to increase crop yield by reducing soil compaction.

“In controlled traffic farming (CTF), equipment is adapted so all field operations are supported from permanent traffic lanes to allow optimum production from wide, non-trafficked crop beds. In practice it means repeated use of the same wheel tracks for all operations using a precise machinery guidance system,” the article states.

According to precision farming specialist Ian Beecher-Jones, the first pass of a vehicle through a land creates the most compaction of the soil profile beneath its wheel/track paths. Therefore, any way in which the farmer can minimise the passage of subsequent operations beyond those paths can significantly limit further soil damage. This need not be difficult or costly to achieve.

Speaking at the recent Case IH media event held near Dresden in Germany, Beecher-Jones outlined some of the measures that farmers can take to minimise the risk of soil compaction and assess and repair existing soil structure damage.

According to an article published by Case IH, Beecher-Jones said that small improvements in management practices could lead to substantial cost saving.

Previous studies had shown that the first vehicle pass can cause as much as 80% of the damage done to the soil, and that axle weights of above 10t can reduce plant-available water and infiltration by 40%. During the first pass, earthworm numbers can be reduced by 60%.