Farming Equipment GPS Tracking

Farming is probably the oldest industry known to man, and there has been millennia worth of know-how and techniques passed through generations of families. It is, by its very nature, one dependent on seasons, homegrown intuition and toil. That said, there have been so many technological innovations in recent times that have been able to significantly simplify the farmer's efforts and ensure that he has a better yield for his hardwork.

GPS tracking systems for farming equipment are one of those innovations that have come as a boon to the farmer. The capability of the technology to integrate locational data to provide advanced services such as water management, yield monitoring, row guidance etc makes it very attractive to farmers. In addition to its implementation in farm equipment tracking, the case for GPS has been made by the fact that many tractor manufacturers have adopted GPS precision technology to reduce overlaps and driver fatigue by improving steering accuracy. This has enabled the technology to take a central position in the sphere of farming.Some of the advantages it offers are –

 

  • GPS tracking equipment can be used to track expensive farming equipment and prevent tractor theft. Tractor real time tracking provides remote access over the equipment to the farmer and are set up to provide text or email alerts to farmers if their equipment is moved.

  • Tractor GPS equipment can help in mapping the usage of the equipment and saved as records for insurance purposes, eliminating the need for the farmer's manual records.

  • Specific requirements such as “is my crew working in a straight line?” i.e. row guidance, can be answered by GPS tracking equipment, thus helping the farmer achieve a degree of sophistication in his daily farming methods and thus increase the yield of the farm.

  • Information management modules are available for farming that utilizefarm equipment tracking for solutions such as water management, mapping, accounting etc. These come with integrated software and can serve as a one-stop solution for the farmer to keep his affairs in order.

  • Fertiliser delivery and seeding information can be monitored in real time by the farmer in order to keep a closer track of progress.

  • The GPS equipment can be used to mark obstacles on the field or even pest infestations, for future reference. Different varieties of crop can be demarcated accordingly, so that the farming treatment can be customized accordingly.

  • Over a longer period of operation, the different stages of progress at different geographical locations in the farm can be stored as GPS data so that work can commence from that location the next time. This reduces duplication of work at any single location in the farm, and hence optimizes the farming efforts.

  • Patches of unwanted activity such as repetitive weed growth or sinkholes can be marked on the equipment and treated accordingly to ensure that yield is not affected.

  • Precision tracking GPS equipment has the capability to break down the view of a farm into various grids and store information for each grid, such as yield and other parameters. This enables the farmer to perform a better analysis of his farm and increase productivity by focusing on tackling each grid based on its yield and soil conditions.

  • GPS equipment can be used in farming applications such as topographic map generation, accurate placement of drip tubing for crops as well as tractor guidance.

 

The Challenges

  • Precision tracking GPS equipment is still considerably expensive and not within the reach of every farmer. Hence there is a challenge to make it more viable and attractive for smaller operators.

  • Usage of GPS tracking equipment in farming conditions may be sometimes unreliable because of outdoor interference such as electricity equipment of thunderstorms etc.

  • The range of the equipment is not always guaranteed, especially in the case of larger farms which may have natural obstacles such as trees or hills, sometimes leaving the equipment unfocused.

 

The Solutions

  • The willingness of farming equipment manufacturers to collaborate with GPS technology companies to co-design and produce smarter GPS-enabled machines is taking the technology to newer users, and helping farmers take advantage of it.

  • GPS tracking equipment utilising subscription-based satellites are much more reliable in outdoor farming conditions as they provide more reliable signals, thus correcting minor interference.

  • Manufacturers have come up with fixes to the signal strength to ensure higher range over wider terrain, and also introduced fixes such as making portable base stations that can be transported easily if the need arises.