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If Old McDonald had a farm today, he could manage it from his laptop
computer and map it with an application on his handheld device. When he is out in the field, his tractor’s guidance system
could know its position to within less than an inch, turning his planters and sprayers on and off accordingly. A boom height
control system would make sure that his sprayer did not hit the ground and a yield monitor on his combine would measure
the exact volume of his harvest, in real time. Soil moisture sensors networked via cellular modems, soil density sensors on
his planters, and infrared crop health sensors on his tractor would gather a wealth of data that his agronomist would use to
prepare a prescription map for the next season.
In a few years, that data stream would also include aerial imagery collected by his unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and his
tractor would also be running unmanned as a robot in the field. If a chick, duck, turkey, pig, cow, cat, mule, dog, turtle, or
farm hand got in its way, the tractor’s radar collision avoidance system would recognize it and stop.
The most widely used term to describe this complex suite of technologies is precision agriculture, and the uptake is
exploding. Most new tractors and implements are sold with factory-installed global navigation satellite system (GNSS, which
includes the better-known GPS) receivers and a variety of sensors. Reversing a long-standing trend, kids who were born and
raised on farms are now returning there after college, because the work is much more intellectually challenging and less
manual labor-intensive than it used to be.
EDITOR’S NOTES This feature is one of three in
publications of the Location Media Alliance that tackle
different applications of geospatial technology to improve
agricultural efficiency. This feature shares high-tech tools
that farmers now use in precision farming. Learn about the
precision tools being applied along the full plant lifecycle in
Precision Agriculture: Sensors Drive Agricultural Efficiency
(http://bit.ly/WerP76) by Matteo Luccio in Sensors &
Systems. Gain insight on how farmers and suppliers are
now able to track individual plants back to the field for
greater food safety in LBx Journal (www.lbxjournal.com).
Also, the application of mapping for agricultural gleaning
from fruit trees in urban yards is covered in Informed
Infrastructure (http://bit.ly/UBEtfd).
FIGURE 3. A Kinze Autonomous Harvest System consists of
a tractor, grain cart and combine. Image courtesy of Kinze.
MATTEO LUCCIO
Contributing Writer
Pale Blue Dot LLC
Portland, Ore.
www.palebluedotllc.com
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IMAGING NOTES // WINTER 2013 // WWW.IMAGINGNOTES.COM