ISTRO Controlled Traffic Working Group
At the 16th triennial conference of the International Soil Tillage Research Organisation
(ISTRO) in Brisbane in July 2003, a CTF working group was set up.
This is open to all interested members of ISTRO as well as invited specialists and some commercial
organisations. if you wish to join, please e-mail Tim Chamen
This page is being used to report the activities of the group as well as acting as a
notice board for events and for communications. It also has a downloadable spreadsheet for you
to record what CTF-related research you are doing and would like to make known to others.
The objectives and history of the working group are given further down the page.
Ongoing research
To help you plan and standardize your research, please use our research spreadsheet.
Not only will this help in your planning but there is a section on collaboration, where you can invite others to participate or offer your
help and expertise to others. If you would like to make your spreadsheet available on our website, please send it to
info@controlledtrafficfarming.com with "Research Database"
in the subject line.
The research spreadsheets we have received so far are listed under the different countries below.
ISTRO Working Group Events
Planned Events
We are planning a workshop in southern Sweden in May or June 2012, date and details to be announced soon. If you would like details of the next triennial
ISTRO conference to be held in Uruguay, visit
the conference website
Recent event reports
Report from workshop in Bavaria, 25-26 May 2011
ISTRO Working Group Past Events
25-26 May 2011. Freising, Bavaria
The meeting took place at the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture and then moved to a commercial farm at Eichstaett to visit
field research on wheat, rye and sugar beet using CTF and different tillage strategies.
Please visit
the ISTRO website for information about ISTRO membership
17-18 August 2010. Tänikon, Switzerland
CTF and Conservation Tillage in the Framework of Small Scale Farming
The workshop included visits to CTF trials, work on non-inversion tillage and direct seeding. It also featured
nitrate leaching from ploughed and no-till soils. Additionally there were reports on CTF research being carried out across Europe and other parts of the world.
CTF Working Group meeting on Tuesday 16 June at ISTRO 2009 in Izmir, Turkey
Further workshop reports
(Left click any link below to open the file in your browser or right click the link and left click
"Save Target As" to save the file to your own specified folder).
CTF workshop at Colworth, UK. 10 April 2008
A full report on the workshop is available from the link below:
Report on CTF Workshop at Colworth
CTF workshop in Nitra, Slovakia. 22-24 April 2008
A full report on the workshop is now available from the link below.
Report on CTF Workshop in Nitra, Slovakia
Netherlands, 23-25 May 2007 - seasonal controlled traffic in vegetable production
A report on the workshop is available from the link below
CTF Workshop in the Netherlands, May 2007
ISTRO 2006 conference in Kiel, Germany. August/Sept 2006
The theme of the conference was "Soil Management for Sustainability", which was
perfectly in tune with the aims of the CTF working group. A report from this meeting is available below.
ISTRO 2006 CTF Working Group meeting report
Denmark CTF Workshop, 16th-18th November 2005.
This 3-day workshop was organized by our Danish colleagues and was a combination of farm visits, discussion forums and
presentations. We visited DIAS institutions at Foulum and Bygholm where research projects were described
and aspects of soil management and controlled traffic discussed. Twenty two people from widely differing
backgrounds and seven different countries (including several farmers from the UK) came together to exchange
ideas and experiences. The following report on the workshop activities and outcomes is available to download:
Danish Workshop Summary [Word format]
July 2004, 2-day workshop in Silsoe, UK.
The following reports from the meeting can be downloaded:
Workshop summary [pdf format]
Summary slides [pdf format]
Dutch Controlled traffic farm-based trial [pdf format]
CTF Weed Management Strategies [pdf format]
Meeting discussion prompts [PowerPoint format]
ISTRO CTF Working Group history and objectives
The group came into being at the 16th triennial conference of the International Soil Tillage Research Organisation
(ISTRO) in Brisbane in July 2003
The objectives of the group are reflected by the following paragraphs:
"To critically review both scientific and practical evidence of the benefits and shortcomings of
controlled traffic farming systems and to identify gaps in knowledge and areas of research where
further work is needed. In particular, to pinpoint research that will appraise the linkage between
tillage, traffic and favourable soil structure."
"In addition, the group aims to encourage and if possible facilitate the use of CTF in a way that
delivers benefits in as wide a range of climates and ecozones as possible. This should be done in a
way that improves the financial viability of food production while addressing environmental and food
safety issues."
The group understands that CTF practitioners drive its core activity of identifying and undertaking
appropriate research. If you are a CTF practitioner and consider that an aspect of the system or its
deliverables needs attention, research or development, then please
email us.