Chapter IV/20: Principles of soil conserving traffic on arable land - adaption of load input by agricultural machines to the susceptibility of soil to compaction

The sizes and total weights of agricultural machinery have increased steadily over the last decades. Under adverse soil conditions, considerable negative changes in soil structure and in multiple soil functions can occur. The presented concept to ‘adapt machinery specifications to the susceptibility of soil to compaction’ compares the soil load of the respective agricultural machinery to the susceptibility of soil to compaction. From this data, average days of trafficability of agricultural soil and the long term trafficability of typical sites in Germany for main time spans of field work were derived, depending on machinery and agricultural technique. These information helps the farmer to plan new investments and operating levels of machinery. Furthermore, he can compare different machines and processing chains regarding their soil load and adapt machinery specifications to the prevailing soil conditions for a soil-conserving traffic. Key factors and principles of soil conserving traffic on arable land are presented and integrated into the concept.