Working at Reduced Speed
1. Presentation
Characterization of the technique
Description of the technique:
| Rémy Ballot | INRA | remy.ballot(at)grignon.inra.fr | Grignon (78) |
Spam prevention: To use these addresses, replace (at) with @
Limit the forward speed during field operations, particularly for soil tillage operations, which consume a lot of fuel. Reducing the forward speed can be combined with the use of wider tools to maintain an equivalent work rate.
Example of implementation:
Reducing the forward speed can also apply to road travel, especially during harvest operations. Traveling between harvest and storage sites at 40 km/h is not necessary if followed by waiting times during loading.
Implementation period On established crops
Spatial scale of implementation Field
Application of the technique to...
All crops: Easily generalizable
All soil types: Generalization sometimes delicate
On silty-prone soils, sensitive to crusting, reducing forward speed during operations with powered tools (rotary harrow…) can lead to excessive production of fine soil.
All climatic contexts: Easily generalizable
Regulation
2. Services provided by the technique
3. Effects on the sustainability of the cropping system
"Environmental" criteria
Effect on air quality: Increasing
acidification: DECREASE
GHG emissions: DECREASE
Effect on fossil resource consumption: Decreasing
fossil energy consumption: DECREASE
Other: No effect (neutral)
Pollutant transfer to water (N, P, pesticides ...): no effect (neutral)
Pollutant transfer to air (N, P, pesticides ...): Decrease
Performing soil tillage operations at lower speed helps limit fuel consumption per hectare worked, thus reducing related sulfur dioxide emissions.
Fossil energy consumption: Decrease
Performing soil tillage operations at lower speed helps limit fuel consumption per hectare worked.
GHG emissions: Decrease
Performing soil tillage operations at lower speed helps limit fuel consumption per hectare worked, thus reducing related carbon dioxide emissions.
"Agronomic" criteria
Productivity: No effect (neutral)
Soil fertility: No effect (neutral)
Water stress: No effect (neutral)
Biodiversity functional: No effect (neutral)
Other agronomic criteria: No effect (neutral)
"Economic" criteria
Operational costs: No effect (neutral)
Mechanization costs: Decreasing
Performing soil tillage operations at lower speed helps limit fuel consumption per hectare worked.
Margin: Increasing
Performing soil tillage operations at lower speed helps reduce mechanization costs without penalizing production, thus improving profitability.
"Social" criteria
Working time: Variable
Reducing working speed leads to a decrease in work rates if all other things remain equal. If combined with an increase in working width, at equal traction power, it allows reducing consumption per cultivated hectare without degrading work rate.
4. Favored or disadvantaged organisms
Favored Pests
| Organism | Impact of the technique | Type | Details |
|---|
Disadvantaged pests
| Organism | Impact of the technique | Type | Details |
|---|
Favored Auxiliaries
| Organism | Impact of the technique | Type | Details |
|---|
Disadvantaged auxiliaries
| Organism | Impact of the technique | Type | Details |
|---|
Favored climatic and physiological accidents
| Organism | Impact of the technique | Details |
|---|
Disadvantaged climatic and physiological accidents
| Organism | Impact of the technique | Details |
|---|
5. For further information
- Fuel savings
- -Charles Guillot (FR-CUMA Rhône-Alpes)
Rhône-Alpes Biomass and Energy Center, Technical brochure, 2009
6. Keywords
Bioaggressor control method:
Mode of action:
Type of strategy regarding pesticide use:
