Farm machinery exacting heavy toll on soil - study

[Still Waters]

Scientists say massive tractors could be damaging up to a fifth of global land used to grow crops.

The weight of modern combine harvesters, tractors and other farm machinery risks compacting the soil, leading to flooding and poor harvests, according to researchers in Sweden.

And in their scientific paper, they raise a curious question.

How did giant dinosaurs, which outweighed machines, survive without trampling the soil to smithereens?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61468116

Farm vehicles are now heavier than most dinosaurs – here’s why that’s a problem

https://theconversation.com/farm-vehicles-are-now-heavier-than-most-dinosaurs-heres-why-thats-a-problem-182992

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2117699119

Edited May 17, 2022 by Still Waters
Found/added a better source link

[Buzz_Light_Year]

America has been working on the issue of soil compaction for decades.

In addition to weight horizontal tillage contributes to the problem and farmers are now converting to vertical tillage which seems to reverse the effects of compaction. But compaction isn't going away entirely even if the weight of farm machinery is reduced.

Horizontal tillage is plows, disks, tillers and rippers. Vertical tillage is just that disk blades that go straight down and don't move the soil horizontally. 

There a lot more that is being done and investigated.

And as with all controversial subjects you can find different opinions from different "EXPERTS" galore on the internet.