For years farmers have been working extremely long hours ploughing, planting, spraying, and harvesting the fields in their tractors. The strain and stress on their bodies not to mention the mental control it takes to drive the tractor for many hours a day have taken a toll on farmers. One main restriction to farming fields is the fact that there are just simply not enough hours in a day. Farmers often can’t run machinery at night because it is too hard to see the paths they’ve run in the field and where they need to go next.
Precision farming is the way of the future. Through the use of GPS signalling a farmer no longer needs to steer the tractor while farming the fields. Signals from satellites tell the tractor where to drive and when to turn automatically taking over the steering mechanism of the tractor. This has made working the land almost robotic allowing the farmer to sit back and enjoy the ride. This method of farming puts less strain on the farmer and allows them to accurately farm the fields even at night.
This new and upcoming method of framing is truly like using cruise control on a car, once set the machine takes control. I really believe that precision farming is going to be the way of the future. Farmers can now farm more efficiently and most importantly more environmentally. Through this new method they can farm using fewer chemicals, disturbing the ground less and with less running tractor time through less passes. This technology also gives farmers the opportunity to save more money with fewer inputs such as fuel, seeds, fertilizers, herbicides and fungicides which is needed especially during these economically tough times. My only fear with this new system and future systems like it is the possibility of complete automation of the agriculture industry and no longer need for farmers.
