Soil amelioration is a key part of farming systems in Western Australia to overcome soil limitations to crop production. The removal of soil constraints such as compaction and water repellence through strategic tillage practices generally lead to increases in crop production in successive years. One of the limitations that threaten the longevity of the benefits of strategic tillage practices is that the soil can compact over time following amelioration. This often leads to levels higher than before amelioration. Currently, the solution is to repeat the deep ripping process every few years, with the period between deep ripping dependant on the soil type and amount of wheeled traffic on the paddock. This is a costly repetitive process that may become unsustainable in the long term as soils become compacted to greater depths with successive tillage treatments and larger and heavier machinery.
While there is a good network of demonstration sites established across the port zones of WA, there are a number of soil types where the benefit and longevity of soil amelioration practices are unknown. The use of controlled traffic practices can be implemented to increase the longevity of soil ameliorative practices, by reducing soil compaction from wheel traffic by confining this to permanent wheel tracks across the paddock. However, the potential of controlled traffic practices to increase the longevity of amelioration treatments have been evaluated on a narrow range of responsive soil types.