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Is tire inflation part of your soil compaction strategy?

An agronomist says new tire technology and cover crop options are helping address decades of soil compaction.

“One-time deep compaction is long term three percent reduction in yield.”

Peter Johnson with Real Agriculture tells Brownfield more than likely farmers’ tires are improperly inflated which can cause problems in the field and safety concerns on the road.

“We’d like everybody’s tire pressure to be under 15 PSI.”

He says more compaction also impacts water erosion and the effectiveness of tile drainage.

“When we have to keep moving our tiles closer together to get them to work, to me that’s a very clear indication that the deep compaction is stopping that lateral water movement.”

To break up soils in the short term, Johnson says surface tillage, but longer-term, he recommends building organic matter with wheat or cover crop rotations and properly inflated tires on every piece of field equipment.