Search

Springtime on a farm is typically filled with the hustle and bustle of gearing up for planting season. This is the time of year when most farmers focus on de-winterizing the sprayer, changing oil in the tractors and checking the seed meters on the planter. If you use a field cultivator, it is also important to make sure it is properly adjusted to help provide a uniform seedbed for the upcoming planting season. Whether this is the first season or the thirtieth season for the field cultivator, there are a few items to check before making your way to the field this spring.

Some areas have received several inches of rainfall since Sept. 1, during a time when corn and soybean water use declines significantly. This lack of water use by the plant creates saturated soil conditions susceptible to compaction this fall. High soil moisture increases soil compaction caused by field traffic and machinery. Over the past decade the size of Iowa farms has increased, leading to larger and heavier equipment.

However, equipment size is only one factor among many causes of the soil compaction problem.