What is Controlled Traffic Farming
Controlled traffic farming is quite simply controlling traffic in the farming system with the result of improving efficiency and farm output. A system that controls traffic separates wheel beds and root beds.
A road is good for driving, a field is good for growing.
In conventional farming we work the soil to make it suitable for cropping, and then drive very heavy machinery over it in the act of cropping. We are working against ourselves! Studies have shown that up to 85% of the field becomes compacted from heavy machinery. This results in decreased yield and at the same time we have to battle driving equipment on soft soil, particularly hard when it is wet.
The solution to this is to dedicate zones for wheels, and zones for roots. It becomes very easy to drive the machinery down the compacted tramlines, using less fuel and meaning we can get onto the field sooner after rain. At the same time in the planting zones the soil profiles develops and soil moisture improves.
How do we control traffic in the farming system?
It requires modifying equipment so that wheel widths match, allowing tyres to run on the same permanent wheel tracks. We also need to then drive down the same tramlines each time. This can be down with limit success, but very cheaply, by using guide arms to help us to get it right. The most effective way is to move to satellite guided systems, or autosteer systems, that ensure very, very little error. Error causes overlap and increases the amount of soil compaction.
Controlled traffic farming is most suited to continuous cropping systems, which exclude livestock from the cropping area. There are also a lot of farmers having a lot of success with raised beds and controlled traffic in horticultural systems.