Results From Recent Traffic Systems Research And The Implications For Future Work

Abstract

This paper reviews the results of recent traffic systems research and concludes that the evidence shows that with sufficient ingenuity by farmers and their equipment suppliers to match operating and wheel track widths, the traffic management systems that reduce soil compaction should improve crop yield, reduce energy consumption and improve infiltration rates (which will reduce runoff, erosion and flooding). These together will improve agronomic, economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture. Low ground pressure alternatives may well be the option that best suits some farming enterprises and should not be discounted as viable traffic management methods. The paper also considers the implications for further work to improve the robustness of the experimental data.

Field Evaluation of Controlled Traffic Farming in Central Europe Using Commercially Available Machinery

“…As indicated earlier, well-designed systems typically have 20% or less of the cropped area occupied by traffic lanes (Tullberg, 2010). Based on the results obtained, the yield penalty from crops within the permanent traffic lanes was approximately 17% (2012), which is consistent with data obtained by Smith et al (2014) and Godwin et al (2015) for Northern European conditions. The yield data obtained from the traffic treatments applied in this study were used to provide yield estimates for farming systems with varying equipment and track widths.…”

“…For example, in the 2013 growing season, the coefficients of variation for yield data ranged from 27% to 43% depending on the traffic treatment. Similar observations were reported by Godwin et al (2015) for field-based studies dealing with the effects of traffic on crop yield and fertilizer use efficiency. Assessment of the effects of traffic treatments on crop performance was conducted by combining probabilities from independent tests of significance, using the approach proposed by Sokal and Rohlf (1981).…”

“…Godwin et al (2015) suggested that this is not uncommon when dealing with field-scale trials in which soils exhibit moderately high heterogeneity, resulting in significant variability in the experimental data. This observation also agrees with experimental results reported by Negi et al (1981), which showed that the effect of traffic compaction on crop yield is dependent on the seasonal effect of weather.…”

“…This observation also agrees with experimental results reported by Negi et al (1981), which showed that the effect of traffic compaction on crop yield is dependent on the seasonal effect of weather. Godwin et al (2015) claimed that there is a risk of overly rigorous statistical significance levels impeding sensible adoption of improved soil management methods. This is the reason why the 10% level was preferred when modeling the possible effect of converting from a random system to a 6 m, 8 m, or 12 m CTF system.…”

“…Statistical analyses were undertaken for all traffic treatments and yield components using Statistica (StatSoft, 2013). These involved tests of normality (Shapiro-Wilks test), descriptive statistics followed by the Leven test of variance homogeneity, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the least significant differences (LSD) used to compare the means using probability levels of 5% and 10% based on an earlier study by Godwin et al (2015). The tests were conducted as one-factor analyses, which included the traffic intensity (A, B, C, and D).…”