Auto Steering Featured In Precision Agriculture
Instead of kicking back during winter, farmers are now keeping busy at the computer. They are now using global positioning systems according to earth movement to do what is called the precision agriculture. Precisi
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n farming is a very important term in the precision agriculture field. Essentially at the core of the precision farming are the study and the management of all the variables down to the smallest measurement level. The precision farming attempts to monitor the variables down to the square meter or foot. What lies at the heart of the application on the precision farming is the commitment to a higher level of management intensity. Precision farming takes place over time with the considered professionals competing against the inflexible cultural practices. Experts in this kind of field have spent years in the field testing new products and weeding out what works and not. There are new technologies that have greatest impact on agriculture in the next decade like Global Positional System, Geographic Information System, and auto steering. Together they will enable farmers to really use electronic guidance aids in order to direct the equipment’s movements more accurately and can provide precise positioning for all the actions of the equipments and chemical applications and to analyze all of the data in association with the other sources of date such as agronomic and climatic data.
Precision farming should not only be thought of as a yield mapping and variable rate fertilizer application. Precision farming technologies will really affect the whole production of the farm. The management needs to adopt these things for a new and improved technology. One of the benefits to the farmers is to help them establish a history on their farm practices and results along with the assisted decision making and traceability requirements.
Not long ago, the concept of a tractor or combine application rig steering itself across the field was not much more than a curiosity. Now, the GPS steering is taking the precision agriculture community. The popularity of the auto steering is catching on just like the first phase of the manual guidance. Auto steering will be the standard equipment on many of the farm vehicles and an option of many farmers. Of course the economic payback is critical through field efficiency but there are lots of other benefits that the auto steering is bringing to the farmers. The auto steering can work day and night, allowing safer, faster, and more accurate field operations even if the visibility is low. This allows the farmer to get in the field whenever it is convenient or to work even around light conditions that would be impossible in the traditional guidance. And because the steering can take care of itself, the farmer can watch other important operations like monitor feedback, crop condition, and any obstacles in the field. The auto steering can also reduce the fatigue of the operators since they do not have to turn or hold the line with the steering wheel, nor manually correct the steering with the use of a light bar.





