AM Minnesota Today Jodi DeJong Hughes Soil Compaction

My guest on today's AM Minnesota Porgram will be Jodi DeJong Hughes university of Minnesota Regional Educator Soils and Water and the topic will be compaction. Concerns about compaction have really increased over the past few years for a couple of reasons.

Equipment has gotten much larger in the last few years. A big combine with a full grain tank has a very high axal load not to mention a grain cart or the semi tractor trailer sitting on the end of the field! In addition we have seen the last couple falls with a lot of rainfall. Saturated soil conditions compounds the problem of compaction!

Specifically I plan to ask Jodi about soil structure, what compaction is, how to fix soil compaction and how to prevent it. In addition I would like to find out more about tracks compared to tires and if there is any research that shows there is an advantage to tracks.