A group of no-till farmers gather for a farm tour and begin talking about soil compaction. Several of the farmers are using CTF (Controlled Traffic) for a decade or more, and are completely certain that CTF is an imperative to produce deep loose soil with no compaction and deep aggregate structure.
The farmer hosting the get together says, “I am certain I don’t have compaction! Let me grab my shovel and let’s go out to the field. I’ll show you I don’t have compaction!”
One of the CTF farmers raises his hand and says, “Wait. You just said it. You said, “Let me grab my shovel.” If you need a shovel, you have compaction. On my soils that have been CTF for 20 years, you can go into the field with your bare hands, and the question is, How deep do you want to dig?”