This article was written by Jonathan Sawicki, a summer research assistant with OMAFA assisting with corn research and extension projects during the summers of 2023 and 2024. Jonathan is now an M.Sc. candidate in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph. This article discusses the challenges Ontario agriculture faced in 2024 due […]
Soil compaction negatively affects crop health and grain yield. There are many factors that contribute to soil compaction, but what are the biggest contributors and how can their impact be reduced? The simple answer Focus on these five best practices for the greatest impact on minimizing soil compaction: A little more information Since 2017, eight […]
Soils are made up of minerals (sand, silt and clay particles), organic matter and pore spaces that contain water and air. Compaction in its purest sense can be defined as “an applied pressure/force exerted on a landscape that reduces pore space within the soil matrix” (Figure 1). Crops grown in compacted soils often have a […]
Soil structure is a key indicator of soil health. The Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) provides a simple framework for quantitatively scoring soil structure quality. It requires only a shovel for extracting a block of soil and a scoring sheet for evaluating it and can be performed in about 10 minutes with a little […]
This article was written by Alex Barrie, OMAFRA Soil Management Engineer, and Ian McDonald, OMAFRA Crop Innovations Specialist As discussed in the previous article (available here), as long as we are putting heavy implements on farm fields, soil compaction is a significant possibility. Lots of factors impact the severity of threat, like load, tire configurations […]
If we are going to put big equipment into farm fields, soil compaction will continue to be a threat. Farm equipment, especially that which carries heavy loads (spreaders, sprayers, planters, grain wagons) needs to be configured to support that maximum load under road conditions. This often requires significantly higher tire pressures than what should […]
Written by Ian McDonald, Crop Innovations Specialist, OMAFRA and Alex Barrie, Soil Management Engineer, OMAFRA The impact of farm equipment causing soil compaction is primarily a function of soil moisture at the time of traffic coupled with the total weight, axle load and tire pressure of the implement. By lowering the tire pressure, we reduce […]
Published in Ontario Farmer June 4th, 2019. Authors Ian McDonald and Alex Barrie, OMAFRA and Peter Johnson, RealAgriculture It’s hard to put any more adjectives to the frustration of this springs weather. In 2019 “all bets are off” on what is the right thing to do in terms of planting timeliness, and how, when and […]
IFAO held a Compaction Action Day in September 2017 at Shawridge Farms at Arthur, Ontario. That event, attended by around 400 people, 16 equipment sponsors and 50 total sponsors, showcased a wide range of equipment and achieved a number of important things: It showed that a lot of people are concerned about compaction It raised […]