Posted on Sep 2, 2022
How weather in outer space could cost Midwestern farmers $1 billion
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New research shows how increasingly intense solar flares could disrupt the GPS satellite connections that have made Kansas farms more efficient.
HAYS, KANSAS — Kansas farmers battered by drought and heat now have more weather to worry about — in outer space.
An expected surge in solar flares over the next several years will likely send massive bursts of radiation hurtling toward our atmosphere. And that would threaten satellite signals.
That matters to farmers because much of the technology that has made modern farms increasingly efficient relies on those satellites, particularly global positioning systems, or GPS.
So even just a short time without GPS could come with a steep cost for Midwestern farmers.
HAYS, KANSAS — Kansas farmers battered by drought and heat now have more weather to worry about — in outer space.
An expected surge in solar flares over the next several years will likely send massive bursts of radiation hurtling toward our atmosphere. And that would threaten satellite signals.
That matters to farmers because much of the technology that has made modern farms increasingly efficient relies on those satellites, particularly global positioning systems, or GPS.
So even just a short time without GPS could come with a steep cost for Midwestern farmers.
How weather in outer space could cost Midwestern farmers $1 billion
Posted from kcur.org
Space
Science
Farming
Agriculture
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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OK here s the thing. youcan still farm without GPS...We do it. We have old tractors and still make a good solid crop. Is it ideal in todays world, no but you can still do it...you just have to go back to old school and watch what you are doing versus letting a dang computer do it for you!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth But the Graphics on the New Stuff is "So Cool!" LOL!
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Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel - yep...so cool and SO EXPENSIVE. A farmer friend of mine bought a new tractor a couple years back...his just finally died. This thing after the land coords are loaded will literally drive itself, turnoff spray booms if they have overlapped rows, has a mini fridge for lunch and drinks, and get this...one night he was sitting in his house getting ready fro be and got a text from his tractor telling him he left a light on...another time he got a text from the dealerhsip scheduling an oil change due to the hours used and would send a technician out. I have to listen to my tractors, monitor the gauges, and watch overlap. To me that is farming but I do get the efficiency thing especially on mega farms.
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MAJ Roland McDonald
Lt Col Scott Shuttleworth why didn't the tractor just turn the light out?.......oh right another 32 lines of code....that will 10k more in cost..... lol
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Farming is just one of many industries that are affected by the effects of solar flares. Hopefully the tech safeguards keep up to the safeguard requirements
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
CSM Chuck Stafford Hopefully! Not Many are Experienced in "Old School" Technology anymore. Bet I could still fire up an R-390 and Even with Arthritis starting to Show it's Ugly Face, Bet I could still make a Mod 28 TTY Sing!
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CSM Chuck Stafford
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel -reliance on "Chip" technology - no pun intended - is definitely a weakness in our society, which is increasingly losing the knowledge to do tasks in an analog manner
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Solar flares have been messing with communications since radios have been around and the technology for farmers to optimize the various things in farming has been around since late 1980's. My brother graduated in 1988 with his masters in cartography and a minor in programming. His first 2 jobs were working for companies covering maps to digital formats and installing GPS markers on farms and soil testing equipment for the disbursement of exact amount of the 5 major components of fertilizer. Thus reducing run off and water contamination. Now tractors do it all even have your coffee ready when you get into it.
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