On 1/1/2013 1:45 PM, Erik wrote:
In , wrote:
On 12/30/2012 1:34 PM, Erik wrote:
I'm not... however, came across this interesting 1954 farming video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzLT-2XZnoI&feature=em
Some of that equipment looked pretty impressive... can only imagine how
the technology had matured through the years.
Our kind of farming is a little different... 
Here're a couple from central KS--it's similar except we've got fewer
trees and larger fields...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmhg1qyhvvs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YStRc1fCj38
Truck farming is a whole different animal of course but I'd think that
film was fairly primitive even for mid-50s for many operations.
Cool!
I didn't find one quickly that really demonstrates the integration of
tech other than the autosteer in a brief look--it's the combination of
GPS w/ other sensing that is the real difference (other than just the
size--when a kid in the 60s we were planting 4-row at 3.5 to -maybe- 5
mph so covered roughly 4A (acres)/hr so would take 20 hr nonstop to
cover an 80. Now planters are 12-16 rows common w/ some rigs as much as
24 or even 32 and they can run as much as 6 mph. So, we can cover that
same 80A in 3 hr or less).
A new air planter has sufficient "smarts" to actually measure the
precise number and spacing of each seed and meter fertilizer and a
insecticide application perhaps as well at the same time. The combine
has a yield monitor that is tied into the gps that produces yield maps
that are tied back to that same planter's outputs of crop inputs to
correlate production costs w/ yield and all are tied to soil maps as
well. Over time, combinations of particular seed genetics and input
needs can be matched precisely to make better use of the expensive
inputs (and which aren't these days????). It is even possible to preset
the rates as a function of field coordinates to vary them automagically.
The biggest variable is, of course, still the weather--all can be lost
on the day before cutting a bumper crop w/ a bad hail or there can be no
crop if it doesn't rain enough or at the right time.
--