Posted on 08/05/2015 2:33:18 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Drones and driverless tractors – is this the future of farming?
With more than half of the British countryside being managed by precision farming methods, is the new agricultural revolution gathering pace?
Peter Moore
Monday 20 July 2015 07.30 BST Last modified on Monday 20 July 2015 07.33 BST
On 7 July 1964 the Daily Express published a satirical cartoon, a send-up of Britain’s farming community as it struggled to adapt from its old, rustic world to a new, technological one. The cartoon was set at a Royal Show at a point in the near future. One side of the frame featured a rowdy beer tent, reserved for “drivers and drivers only”. On the other was a marquee with the sign: “Order your Radio-Controlled Tractor”. A driver leans over to his beer-slugging mate. “Bert, I don’t want to depress you”, he cautions, “but your governor’s just bought one of those new tractors that don’t need a driver.”
The Express cartoon was recently cited by Professor Simon Blackmore, the head of engineering at Harper Adams University in Shropshire, to demonstrate the progress the farming community has made over the last 50 years. The ludicrous has now become the commonplace.
Ian Beecher-Jones, a precision farming consultant, recently told Farmers Weekly magazine that about 60% of Britain’s farmland is now being managed by precision methods, which include sensor systems, cameras, drones, microphones, virtual field maps, analytics and GPS-guided tractors. These technologies – examples of the so-called internet of things – are fuelling what is being called the “new agricultural revolution”.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Holy cow, one of my facebook friends’ icon looks so much like you and your tractor in that picture I was thinking maybe you are the same guy. I checked your profile but you don’t give a state.
When I looked at the full sized picture, his is an international 444.
BTW, that thing looks really cool. Here we have a big parade on July 4th and a TON of rebuilt classic tractors are in it.
Sorry about the profile.
I’m now in WV although we still have our house in OH. Sorta still in between states for awhile.
How thick is your grass? What about a low-er-tech version ... stiff rods that hang down between the front tires and go down to the level you are cutting. The rod comes into contact with something solid and a sensor lights up inside the cab.
Just an idea.
That was me after I bought my property in KY but before I moved there. Fortunately we were an airline family so we could fly for free to and from our then home of Seattle.
Well, thick enough that I can’t see the rocks...
But that may be a good idea.
We just moved down permanently. In the past, I could only cut a couple times a season so the grass was knee-high and finding rocks was a problem every spring. If I can get the fields cut and maintained, it will be less of a problem, although they do seem to pop up out of the ground every year.
Another idea was some sort of scraper - almost like a cow catcher on a train. Maybe hinged with a riding wheel as we have pretty rolling terrain. Idea was any rocks low enough to hit the bushhog in back would hit the scraper in front and either make a noise or get pushed out of the way.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.