Field Testing of an Electrically Powered Controlled Traffic Farming System

The Cal Poly electrically powered controlled traffic farming (CTF) system was designed to achieve three major objectives: (1) to reduce soil compaction caused by conventional tractor-based farming practices, (2) to increase utilization of off-peak power, and (3) to operate solely under computer control. The CTF system performed all the routine cultural crop-growing activities without putting wheel traffic over the growing field. Field testing was performed to document the operational performance of the CTF system as compared to a conventional wheel-type diesel tractor. Routine field operations were used to determine the extent of soil compaction and the energy consumed by each system.