There are two options to reducing soil compaction: minimizing axle weights and tire/track pressure, or adopting controlled traffic. Although the first option is the most popular, controlled traffic is better. For large grain farming, the first step to controlled traffic is to determine a "basic width." This is usually the width of the harvester. All other machines must match that width or a multiple of it. Next, all tires/tracks are selected and spaced to minimize the number of tracks through the field and, if possible, fit between rows (for crops such as corn). New GPS-based auto-steering systems are a tremendous aid for establishing and maintaining a controlled traffic system. A frequent benefit of controlled traffic is that no-till yields greatly improve because the soil is not compacted annually by traffic.

For more information on this and other topics related to soybean production, contact your state extension specialist or your local extension educator/agent.

Following is the link to the soybean extension specialists: state extension soybean specialist.