Farmers are making tractors smarter by equipping them to utilize the Global Positioning System. Originally developed by the military to navigate U.S. submarines, the GPS uses 24 satellites orbiting 12,000 miles above the Earth's surface to calculate a tractor's exact position in the field. Using the GPS locational device and sensors in the field, farmers can harvest, along with their crops, detailed digital maps of their fields, plotting slope, soil type, moisture, historical yield, and weed and insect problems. Information is collected on portions of the field as small as 18 inches. Farmers use these maps to program computers attached to variable rate equipment that modifies the application rate of all inputs such as tillage, seeds, fertilizer, herbicides and irrigation water.
Precise application reduces waste and improves yield.
Livestock producers are also using computers to get better information about their operations. Computer chips imbedded in the animal's ear can monitor growth and production. A farmer with 5,000 dairy cows can easily monitor milk production and health records, scanning the chip as a cow enters the milking facility to automatically weigh and deliver an individually formulated feed ration. Solar-powered weather stations in the field can be hooked up to a farmer's computer to relay information about current air and soil temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, leaf wetness, soil moisture, day length, wind speed and solar radiation. The Internet is increasing communication and business opportunities within the agricultural community, which previously operated in the relative isolation of rural areas.