Growers and grassland farmers know that driving on soil with heavy machinery causes damage, and particularly in wet conditions.

Without traffic, soil behaves differently – it is at once more friable, it requires little or no tillage and its structure gets better year on year.

Controlled traffic farming (CTF) cuts down on compaction by confining wheels or tracks to the least possible area of permanent traffic lanes.

Modern satellite guidance systems make this easy to achieve and guidance adds a lot of other benefits besides.

Controlled traffic “beds” yield about 15% more than randomly trafficked soils and when these beds cover about 80% of a field,

there is a great deal to gain in terms of yield. This comes from improved root growth that uses water and fertilizer more efficiently,

so it is also good for the environment, and forage crops have a similar yield response.

The other good news is that CTF needn’t cost a lot and can often be achieved with standard equipment;

it just needs some clever thinking and planning!

And the more effort that’s put into planning, the less the expense. In fact, other than the guidance system (which pays for itself anyway), there is likely to be a net reduction in costs because farmers converting to CTF when replacing their equipment can invest in lower powered tractors!

With poor prices for most farm products farmers need to look at their operation to see where they can make improvements, cut costs, and profitably increase production.

Controlled Traffic Farming will increase profitably in all field operations.

In our climate CTF is probably a must for a zero tillage system to work, with the level of cost saving achievable with CTF and Zero Till cannot be ignored. The emergence of zero tillage in Ireland has seen growers using the system enjoy a range of benefits, must notably improved gross margins establishment costs have been measured dropping staggeringly from €240 down to €47 per hectare.

 

 At Farm Works Ireland we have the full range of guidance and steering systems from the world leader in Ag GPS. Trimble, and Farm Works Software to tie your farming operation together. And of course the experience from our own farming / contracting and from the experience we gain from farmers countrywide.

Talk to us to discuss your needs. We can suggest an entry system that can be upgraded as you require, to the most advanced auto guidance on the market to day.

 

 

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