Controlled Traffic Farming | Precision Agriculture




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"You wouldn’t drive a tractor on the wifes’ garden bed, so why would you drive over the cropping area you are trying to make money from"


We offer assistance with:

  • Machinery investment plans
  • Farm & paddock layouts
  • General advice on CTF (weed control, rough wheeltracks, etc)
  • Articles relating to specific topics on Controlled Traffic

Research and on-farm experiences suggest that continuous cropping systems perform extremely well under a zero till, controlled traffic farming (CTF), stubble retention farming system. Controlled Traffic Farming is a healthy cropping system, which delivers production, environmental, and efficiency benefits. It separates paddocks into two sections:
  1. one which provides a healthy well structured soil for promoting crop growth, and
  2. one which provides a roadway for supporting vehicles and machinery.

Soil compaction (left) and CTF system (right)

The combination of guidance and driving on hard, permanent wheel tracks improves paddock efficiencies, reduces all input costs (seed, sprays and fertiliser), reduces diesel use by approximately half, enables greater accuracy of placing inputs, improves water infiltration and storage, improves timeliness of operations, and reduces operator fatigue. Improvements in soil health deliver significant improvements to crop water use efficiency (up to 30kg/Ha/mm vs. district averages of around 10kg/Ha/mm); and in the long term can increase nutrient mineralisation cycles.

In Controlled Traffic Farming, the aim is to have all wheels on the one track. In grain farming the system is based on the harvester, which is limited to a minimum of around 3 metre (120 inch) track width. All other machinery then needs to be matched to 3m, so that opportunities are maximised from the system. Click here for an article showing the yield and economic loss caused by the grain harvester.


Photos showing front and rear axles of a 3m modified tractor

There are obviously some engineering risks with modifying tractors and machinery to wider wheel spacing’s. Often the modifications are not warranted by the manufacturer, and damage often occurs to bearings and axles. Companies such as John Deere now offer warranted 3m front/rear axles specifically for Controlled Traffic. Contact us for detailed information and a Controlled Traffic self-assessment so we can help you minimise those risks.

Operating widths in Australian grain production have focused on 9m (30ft), 11m (36ft), and 12m (40ft). These widths and wheel spacing’s are not practical in countries such as Europe, and crops such as horticulture or forage/hay - where specific spacing’s need to be developed.


30ft header front operating on a CTF system in sorghum
 
 
Farm layout with Controlled Traffic is particularly important to ensure good water drainage and the best farm efficiencies are achieved. We can assist you with farm planning and paddock layout, through the use of topography mapping (the data which you can gather yourself if you have an RTK auto-steer system).