Peter Gamache hopes to take advantage of the buzz around controlled traffic farming, a new cropping system that could increase yields by 10 to 15 percent.
The theory is that massive grain trucks, super wide tractor tires, heavy seed drills and large combines can compact the soil and steal valuable bushels of grain when working a field.
Keeping equipment on permanent traffic lanes could reduce compaction and increase yields, said Gamache, the controlled traffic farming team leader with the Agricultural Research and Extension Council of Alberta.
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“We think that’s a significant difference,” Gamache said.
In Canada, it’s estimated that 50 to 85 percent of the field is travelled over at least once with large equipment.
Interest in controlled traffic farming was reignited in January after Robert Ruwold, one of Australia’s top no-till and controlled traffic farming producers, made a presentation at the Farm Tech conference in Edmonton.
“Robert is known as one of the best no tillers and also a pioneer in controlled traffic farming,” Gamache said. “He talked about this and the interest really started.”
The challenge for Canadian farmers is to figure out how to run their equipment on permanent tram lines.
Gamache said controlled traffic farming usually works best in 30 foot multiples. Farmers with 30 foot headers on their combines can often match other equipment to the combine wheel distances. The seeding equipment may have to be modified to match the 30 foot tramlines, or the sprayer modified to match the 60 or 90 foot tramlines.
Grain carts may be able to drive along the tramlines next to the combine, but few combine augers can reach far enough to fill the cart. An extension to the combine auger might make it work.
“It’s pretty new. It’s really only a few people that are starting along that path. I don’t see them jumping in instantly,” Gamache said.
“The goal is to minimize compaction in a field by isolating travel to these tramlines. There will be some challenges. If a farmer just bought a 70 foot seed drill, he might wonder, ‘what do I do.’ We’ve been on the path of bigger and heavier. We’re now saying, ‘are we really making progress, or are there more efficient ways of doing that.’ I don’t think we recognize the damage caused by compaction.”
Part of Gamache’s work will be to build a network of farmers interested in the new technology.
“It’s important to get an idea of who is out there and bring them together.”
While it may take time to modify equipment to follow designated tram lines, farmers can take small steps in that direction by doing inter row seeding or seeding this year’s crop between the rows of last year’s crop.
“The first year is an awareness year,” Gamache said.
“We want to build a list of interested people. We want to know if they’re doing inter row seeding, or controlled traffic, or just get the word out there to talk about it.”
Craig Shaw of Lacombe, Alta., plans to spend the summer studying controlled traffic farming and hopefully adopt it on his farm next year.
“We’re putting the logistics together and need to figure out what changes we would make, looking at some equipment and try to look at getting a chance to see it operating and what it does. When you start to make capital purchases, you want to make sure those are the right decision,” he said.
“It’s taking precision farming to a much bigger level with all the components working together.”
Shaw said few farmers look seriously at soil compaction as a yield limiting factor. The trend is toward larger equipment without looking at its impact on yield loss, he added.
He said part of the interest in controlled traffic farming is a desire to explore alternatives to traditional agriculture. New technology may lead to spraying only between the rows, adding fertilizer as a side dressing or more research into inter row seeding.
“Lots of people are interested. but the big kicker is when they see some farms in action, once we see the benefits, it will encourage it,” he said.
“The reality is we don’t know the impacts of compaction on our soil conditions. We don’t have a situation where there’s not compaction. It’s something we have to learn. The only way we’re going to learn is have some people do it and watch and document.”
