Controlled Traffic Farming: The Effects on Soil Physical Properties and Water Availabilities in the Canadian Prairies.

Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) is described as the confinement of in-field production vehicle movement to a predefined area known as a tramline.  Conventional farming techniques or Random Traffic Farming (RTF), utilize uncontrolled production vehicle movement within the field and covers more than double the field surface with vehicle traffic when compared to CTF.  CTF has been shown to improve soil quality, which translates to fuel savings, reduction in soil erosion, increase in plant productivity, increase in resource use efficiencies and potential crop yields.

Soil water availability has been shown to directly affect plant growth and health as well as overall crop performance.  It is the goal of this study to discuss the viability of employing CTF as an innovative farming practice within the Canadian Prairies and to quantify the effects that CTF has on water use efficiencies in soils commonly used for agricultural production.  By comparing soil samples taken from sites that employ both CTF and RTF or conventional farming check strips, the improvements in soil health by using CTF can be measured and documented.  Soil samples also obtained from within the tramlines and un-trafficked areas allow the pore size distribution, water use efficiency and hydraulic conductivity to be monitored at various depth increments.  It has been found that uncompacted soils have much higher water availability due to increases in macroporosity and mesoporosity when compared to compacted soils.  Benefits received from observing the effects that CTF has on soils in the Canadian Prairies can lead to an increase in management efficiencies.  A better understanding of in-farm management yields a reduction in quantifiable inputs which will help mitigate the risk of uncontrollable factors encountered, such as drought and crop disease.  A management practice that is capable of reducing the risk involved in farming warrants continuous analysis.