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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • MARCH 2017


Soil compaction is preventable, scientist says Knowing what causes compaction is the first step in prevention


by TOM WALKER ABBOTSFORD – There is a


recipe for soil compaction in Lower Mainland fields, says Geoff Hughes-Games, a soil scientist with ARDCorp and the ingredients include fine- textured flood plain soils, mostly level ground that does not drain water quickly and seasonably high water tables. He spoke to delegates attending the Lower Mainland Horticultural Forum in Abbotsford in late January. “Our soil and water in


combination are generally not a problem when we are growing crops, but rather when we are trying to get into the fields early to plant, or during a late harvest,” Hughes- Games says. “These are just considerations. I am not going to tell you how to do things, but I want you to think about what you are doing,” he urged his audience. Soil compaction occurs when the natural formation or structure of the soil is degraded.


“It can be degraded by you


walking across your front lawn,” says Hughes-Games. “It can be degraded by driving your pickup truck into the field or by cultivation and other practices we carry on within the field.” “Think about building bricks or making pottery; that is what is going on (in a field). We are taking the natural structure and changing it, usually in the presence of moisture.” Compaction is mostly caused by things we do or don’t do to our soil. Consider your soil moisture,


says Hughes-Games. “Is it so wet that when you


grab hold of the soil you’ve got water running down your hand? “Think about excessive


traffic,” he suggests. “Do you really need to be in


there with your truck, or wagon, or spreader?” Cropping practices are also something to consider. “Is my rotation potatoes- potatoes-potatoes?” Hughes- Games asks. “In a single crop situation, the roots only impact the soil in one particular way.” Look at the range of soil amendments, Hughes-Games advised. “If we are only using


chemical fertilizer or only liquid organic fertilizer, that will limit the amount of organic material we are returning to the soil. “I use the term


‘inappropriate tillage practices,’” says Hughes- Games. “In some cases, it might be the appropriate tillage practice but the timing may be off. Maybe we are tilling too deep, maybe we are tilling too shallow, maybe we are tilling too often and maybe we are using a tillage implement that is too aggressive. If we are planting a large seed or a tuber, do we have to make the soil really fine?”


Rotating to a different crop


allows you to change the root structure in the soil and provide a different kind of residue. “A fibrous root like a cereal


or grass may give a different soil biology from a carrot or a potato,” Hughes-Games points out. “The consequences of


having a compacted soil is that we get increased risks of surface ponding and increased risk of run-off or erosion,” Hughes-Games explains. “We get restrictions to our rooting, we get poorer fertilizer utilization because now the roots are exploring much less of the soil and this all leads to lower crop yields.” One of the key things to


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break out of the compaction cycle in our lowland soils is to manage the moisture with subsurface drainage. “Can you put in tile or a ‘Big


O’ that will lower the water table?” asks Hughes-Games.


“Less water will increase the soil’s strength. When we build a stronger soil, we can then work it a little better and maybe start to get ourselves out of that compaction.” What does your equipment


look like? Is there a way of moving to a different tire configuration that facilitates less ground pressure? “With wet conditions, a


poor tire is not just compacting the surface, it’s going deeper than you are seeing,” Hughes-Games warns. Look for ways to protect


your soil in the off-season, Hughes-Games says. “Think of raindrops as little bombs hitting the soil. If the field is bare over the winter, the soil is being beaten to death and losing its structure.” “A cover crop needs to be seeded by the third week of September while the soil is warm and wet enough to still have enough growing days to get cover established,” Hughes-Games says. “Or can we leave residue in the soil or even cover the soil with straw?” Adding organic material, such as manure or compost, can change the soil food web resulting in different things like bacteria, fungi and worms working in the soil. Those all help to make the soil more resilient. “The general consensus


from the Climate Adaptation Initiative is that it is going to get wetter and warmer, so we are going to be dealing more and more with water and we could be leading ourselves into more compaction issues,” Hughes-Games concludes.


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