Why Soil Bins

The answer is that the future needs to increase agricultural production and sustainability will include and need improvements in machine/ground interaction; and soil bins have a proven history contributing to this need, and new technology may make them even more valuable in the future.

The combination of the increasing need to feed the world along with taking care of the environment are placing greater demands on agriculture. At the same time, conserving and improving the capability of agricultural soils for production can be threatened by the need to improve production. The knowledge of how best to accomplish and manage agricultural production systems while achieving sustainability of the production is vital.

Agricultural production includes machine/ground interaction in virtually all phases. Historically soil bins have been a valuable asset in developing innovations in machine/ground interaction; both the machines that work the soil, such as for tillage and planting, and the machines that pull those machines across the fields and carry the machines to harvest and take care of the crops. Soil bins have provided the tool for studies and innovations in all these machine ground interactions. These include the development of better tillage tools to create better soil tilth without causing hardpans, and mobility systems that provide better traction and are more efficient while causing less damage, such as excessive soil compaction. Some specific examples are disk coulters that perform better without producing hardpans, and mobility systems such as belt track that provide higher productivity at higher efficiency while producing less soil compaction. These kinds of innovation lead to higher agricultural productivity with lower consumption reducing fuel and labor inputs relative to production and all the while sustaining the system for the future generations.

Soil bins have contributed to improving agricultural production and sustainability during the information age. They have supported the development of controlled traffic and precision agriculture. These means managing the machines as they do their jobs with the least negative impacts on soil health, and managing the inputs such as seed and fertilizer in the most productive way with the least detrimental environmental impacts. Farmers want to provide crops with all the nutrients needed and no more than those needed. Taking care of the soil with the best tillage and planting technology is a key contributor to such a goal for efficient farming practices. The technologies from the information age, such as variable rate planting and fertilizing, are examples of tools to help the farmer increase productivity and sustainability.

The age of intelligent machines and application of AI are now being introduced to off-road machines systems. Intelligent machines are now operating on farmer’s fields, and autonomous machines are being developed and tested on farmer’s fields, and there are already some autonomous machines involved in annual crop production. Just think of a grain cart pulled by a tractor alongside a combine catching the grain with no operator in the tractor, and the tractor knows to come when the combine operator calls. We are just beginning to see what is in our future in the intelligence age.

The same kind of technological advancement is here to improve the study of machine/ground interaction with soil bins. We can now simulate the machine with the tool, not just the tool. The machine is virtual while the tool is physical with a computer machine model controlling a physical tool model in a soil bin. We can now investigate unlimited designs with numerical models and use soil bins with physical models to verify and validate the numerical models, ensuring the outcome from the numerical models, the virtual world, will match the real world. Soil bin technology will not fall behind because of better virtual technology, but can be made even more important by taking advantage of combinations of technologies.

Autonomous farming is starting and will evolve to take away the limits of agricultural production from available labor and light. 24/7 farming will be possible without an operator in a cab. What can and will be done with this opportunity. Will one large machine compacting the ground to plant and harvest crops be replaced by many small machines planting and harvesting without harmful soil compaction? Can machines be made to till and plant at speeds challenging human operators, or does the machine/ground interaction require more energy, and the tool becomes less effective? Can new designs of tools and elements interacting with the ground increase the opportunity for increasing agricultural production and sustainability with autonomous farming?

The engineers and researchers working on these opportunities have both virtual and physical models available. Those working with both virtual and physical models will have the advantage over those with only one option. Soil bins provide the physical models to give those with virtual models the development advantage. The future of agriculture to become more productive and sustainable needs the benefits of all the technologies we have, both virtual and physical. So why soil bins: because the future will be better with their use and development.

Paul Corcoran

Caterpillar, Retired
SMDL Advisory Board Member