Jason Koebler
Scoop: Solar storm is causing farmers' tractor GPS systems to go haywire. Many have shut down planting altogether during a critical period. A Deere dealer said accuracy is "extremely compromised"
https://www.404media.co/solar-storm-knocks-out-tractor-gps-systems-during-peak-planting-season/
Jason Koebler
This is a reminder of how much modern tractors rely on satellite and internet connections. Many farmers can't or won't plant right now bc tractors have been highly automated to increase yield. Rows are planted so tightly together that humans can't navigate them w/o killing crops
Jason Koebler
One farmer called it a "shitshow." Another: "All the tractors are sitting at the ends of the field right now shut down because of the solar storm." Another said their systems that are normally centimeter-accurate were off by 3-6 feet and tractor kept "wandering off" and had to be constantly corrected.
Jason Koebler
This, from a John Deere dealer, is wild. They warn that affected tractors operated during this time will likely have made maps that are wrong, which will be wrong throughout the growing system, and which are wrong in an inconsistent way
Aral Balkan
@jasonkoebler Alt text: Schwarz says organic farms like his rely heavily on precision farming features,
because rows of crops are planted very tightly together to prevent weeds from
growing in the spaces between plants. "We used to have markers that would
scratch a line in the ground that you could then use to kind of drive by eye," he
said. "Now, we plant so tight in terms of how much the tractor can go side to… (1/2)
Aral Balkan
side and how much the equipment can go side to side that if we aren't
absolutely perfect, it just doesn't work. You just physically can't drive that
straight [without guidance]. If you're sitting up there in a tractor seat, you can't
steer fast enough or well enough to not kill the crop because we're so tight on
clearances." (2/2)
Aral Balkan
several months, we expect that the rows won't be where the AutoPath lines
think they are. (End highlight)
This will only affect the fields that are planted during times of
reduced accuracy. It is most likely going to be difficult-if not impossible-to
make AutoPath work in these fields as the inaccuracy is most likely
inconsistent." (2/2)
Aral Balkan
@jasonkoebler Alt text: "Due to the way the RTK network works, the base stations were sending out
corrections that have been affected by the geomagnetic storm and were
causing drastic shifts in the field and even some heading changes that were
drastic," the dealership told farmers Saturday morning.
Highlighted in green:
"When you head back
into these fields to side dress, spray, cultivate, harvest, etc. over the next… (1/2)
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