The ultimate tyre-kicking day
Foulumgaard provided the setting for a demonstration of new technology for the prevention of soil compaction. The event attracted a wide range of people.
Roughly 200 farmers, advisers, agricultural subcontractors, agricultural college students, authorities, machine manufacturers and scientists from both Denmark and abroad found their way past Foulumgaard on 3 May 2016 where the sun started shining nearly the minute the guests arrived. How’s that for planning!
Agricultural machinery has gradually become larger and heavier. This has resulted in agricultural soil increasingly suffering from compaction, with subsequent negative effects on soil fertility. Scientists from AGRO are trying to do something about this via projects such as RECARE, which as part of its activities organised this workshop and demonstration.
The workshop in the morning was for specially invited guests and speakers from authorities, agriculture, the engineering industry, advisory service and research. One of the many topics the participants discussed was the prospect of limiting compaction damage through regulation – for example by using the decision support tool Terranimo.
In the afternoon there was a demonstration at Foulumgaard of the technology used for limiting soil compaction. This was open to anyone who was interested. One solution to the problem is to distribute the weight of the field machinery as widely and evenly as possible. Different types, numbers and mounting of tyres, different tyre pressures and even caterpillar tracks instead of tyres were used while the actual pressure levied on the soil was demonstrated and explained in a readily understandable manner.
According to Matthias Stettler from Bern University (right) they have good experiences in Switzerland with regulating inappropriate traffic on soil by providing voluntary subsidies to farmers. Here he explains – assisted by Mathieu Lamandé, JORD – how the pressure is measured while the tractor and its implements drive across the ground:
The picture on the left looks like a tidy stack of pancakes, while the picture on the right looks like a sagging stack of pancakes. The pictures show soil with and without compaction damage as a result of different types of tyre and pressure:
Per Schjønning, JORD, (left) was the driving force behind the successful arrangement. Egon Noe, SYSTEM (with back to the camera) was the anchorman:
Many tyres and a low tyre pressure help spread the pressure and thus protect the soil against compaction. The soil pressure was measured when the machine drove across the yellow plates which had pressure sensors attached. The results were shown on a monitor:
