Controlled traffic farming

Tramlines in a field

Controlled traffic farming (CTF) is a management tool which is used to reduce the damage to soils caused by heavy or repeated agricultural machinery passes on the land. This damage and its negative consequences have been well documented and include increased fuel use, poor seedbeds,[1] reduced crop yields and poor soil function in terms of water infiltration, drainage and greenhouse gas mitigation due to soil compaction.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Controlled traffic farming is a system which confines all machinery loads to the least possible area of permanent traffic lanes. Current farming systems allow machines to run at random over the land, compacting around 75% of the area within one season and the whole area by the second season. Soils don't recover quickly, taking as much as a few years (e.g., >5 years, particularly in soils without swelling-shrinking properties).[9][10][11] A proper CTF system on the other hand can reduce tracking to just 15% and this is always in the same place. CTF is a tool; it does not include a prescription for tillage although most growers adopting CTF use little or none because soil structure does not need to be repaired. The permanent traffic lanes are normally parallel to each other and this is the most efficient way of achieving CTF, but the definition does not preclude tracking at an angle. The permanent traffic lanes may be cropped or non-cropped depending on a wide range of variables and local constraints.

  1. ^ "Precision farming - Soil compaction and controlled traffic". Archived from the original on 2010-07-24. Retrieved 2010-03-19.
  2. ^ Soane, B.D.; Dickson, J.W.; Campbell, D.J. (1982). "Compaction by agricultural vehicles: a review. III. Incidence and control of compaction in crop production". Soil & Tillage Research. 2 (2): 3–36. Bibcode:1982STilR...2....3S. doi:10.1016/0167-1987(82)90030-7.
  3. ^ Canarache, A.; Colibas, J.; Colibas, M.; Horobeanu, I.; Patru, V.; Simota, H.; Trandafirescu, T. (1984). "Effect of induced soil compaction by wheel traffic on soil physical properties and yield of maize in Romania". Soil & Tillage Research (4): 199–213. doi:10.1016/0167-1987(84)90048-5.
  4. ^ Tullberg, J.N. (2000). "Wheel traffic effects on tillage draught". Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research. 75 (4): 375–382. doi:10.1006/jaer.1999.0516.
  5. ^ Tullberg, J.N.; Ziebarth, P.J.; Li, Y. (2001). "Tillage and traffic effects on runoff". Australian Journal of Soil Research. 39 (2): 249–257. doi:10.1071/SR00019.
  6. ^ Jones, R.J.A.; Spoor, G.; Thomasson, A.J. (2003). "Vulnerability of subsoils in Europe to compaction: a preliminary analysis". Soil & Tillage Research. 73 (1–2): 131–143. Bibcode:2003STilR..73..131J. doi:10.1016/S0167-1987(03)00106-5. hdl:1826/3360.
  7. ^ Hamza, M.A; Anderson, W.K. (2005). "Soil compaction in cropping systems. A review of the nature, causes and possible solutions". Soil & Tillage Research. 82 (2): 121–145. Bibcode:2005STilR..82..121H. doi:10.1016/j.still.2004.08.009.
  8. ^ Håkansson, I. (2005). "Machinery-induced compaction of arable soils. Incidence – consequences – countermeasures". Reports from the Division of Soil Management (109). Uppsala: Department of Soil Sciences. ISSN 0348-0976.
  9. ^ Radford, B.J.; Yule, D.F.; McGarry, D.; Playford, C. (December 2007). "Amelioration of soil compaction can take 5 years on a Vertisol under no till in the semi-arid subtropics". Soil and Tillage Research. 97 (2): 249–255. Bibcode:2007STilR..97..249R. doi:10.1016/j.still.2006.01.005.
  10. ^ McHugh, A.D.; Tullberg, J.N.; Freebairn, D.M. (June 2009). "Controlled traffic farming restores soil structure". Soil and Tillage Research. 104 (1): 164–172. Bibcode:2009STilR.104..164M. doi:10.1016/j.still.2008.10.010.
  11. ^ "The potential of controlled traffic farming to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and enhance carbon sequestration in arable land: a critical review". Transactions of the ASABE: 707–731. 22 June 2015. doi:10.13031/trans.58.11049.