GPS technology to expand the frontiers of farming
Instead of the Star Ship Enterprise soaring at warp speeds through the galaxies, think four-wheel-drive tractor in the pitch black of a Co Laois night, with no lights and a field to plough. “I canna’ do it Capain’. It’s just too dark,” Scottie would no doubt say, struggling to see where he’s going.
“Computer, activate the CharterNav Global Positioning Guidance System!” Captain Kirk would order.
And hey presto, no sooner than it takes to say “But I canna change the laws of physics, Capain”, a screen would light up inside the tractor cab and a satellite miles above your head would become your eyes. The days of horse-drawn ploughs are gone.
Some of the technology on display this month at the National Ploughing Championships at Ballacolla, Co Laois, will show how farmers can cover their tractor windows and navigate by satellite in a bid to win the first European GPS tractor navigation competition.
Tractors with blacked-out windows will be fitted with satellite GPS equipment to keep farmers on the straight and narrow as they navigate a specially-developed course. Farmers have been embracing this space technology.
According to the Irish GPS company endeavouring to boldly bring farmers where they have never gone before, there are already more than 100 GPS tractor systems in use in Ireland.
CharterNav, based in Cork, says the system reduces costs for farming activities, such as spraying, by allowing more even controls for ground treatment.
The GPS system, which looks set to expand the frontiers of farming, can also be used to calculate a field’s area and for mapping grant applications.
It will even ensure spraying or slurry spreading does not take place too close to watercourses.
As one farmer was recently overheard saying to another: “It’s farming, Jim, but not as we know it.”
