Victorian scientists are embarking on a new five-year Controlled Traffic Farming (CTF) project aimed at increasing soil productivity in low rainfall areas of southern Australia.
Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) senior soil physics research scientist Peter Fisher said CTF was a system designed to restrict soil compaction and crop damage by guiding farm machinery along permanent wheel tracks within a paddock.
“If agricultural soil is thought of as soft snow, it is easy to imagine how it compacts when tractors make the multiple passes required to prepare the soil, and sow, spray and harvest crops,” Dr Fisher said.
“This compaction reduces the size and number of soil pores that hold water and air essential for root growth. This can increase waterlogging, limit root growth, reduce rainfall infiltration and increases tractor power costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
“Previous research has shown that use of accurate auto-steer guidance systems, which are now common place, have generally reduced compaction from being across the whole paddock to approximately half the paddock area.
“However, when CTF systems are adopted the compacted area can be reduced to only 10-15 per cent, leaving more than 85 per cent of the paddock in optimum condition for plant productivity.”
It is estimated about $200 million of farm productivity is lost each year across the Victorian and South Australian Mallee and Wimmera region due to poor soil conditions.
The project is a partnership between DEPI, Grains Research and Development Cooperation (GRDC), Australian Controlled Traffic Farming Association, South Australian Research and Development Institute and several farming systems groups in southern Australia.
Dr Fisher said the project aimed to assess whether best practice CTF systems could improve soil condition and increase crop productivity specifically in the low rainfall regions of southern Australia.
“The first phase of the project will seek to identify and address the current questions being posed by grain growers about the place for CTF in their farming systems,” Dr Fisher said.
“Work has now begun with five major farming groups across the region to establish demonstration sites that address questions concerning the adoption of CTF systems.”
“These demonstration sites, and more detailed research sites, will be closely monitored for efficiency, practicality, and crop yield and quality, while the potential economic gains of adopting CTF are measured throughout the project.”
This research is part of the Victorian Government’s research and development program aimed at helping Victoria meet the Government’s goal of doubling agricultural production by 2030.
