Since the first man stuck a stick into unbroken soil to plant a seed, farmers have relied on tools to increase yields and make their work easier. Machines powered by plodding hooves, and later piston engines, first traversed the American fields that today feed hundreds of millions of people. The backbone of the industry was forged in iron. And as the world’s population increases, the tools that enable production become more sophisticated.

“When everything works, it’s quite fun. It’s almost addictive. You can barely tell when I’m planting,” said Matt Knudson, a fifth-generation Kansas farmer.

He recently found himself behind the wheel of a Case IH tractor on a spring afternoon “green plants” in a rye cover crop 1.5 meters high. Due to the persistent wet weather, the ground cover had gotten out of hand. Without the ability to visibly see the rows, Knudson relies entirely on the machine’s precision guidance system to plant soybeans.

It would be a difficult job to use mechanical row markings.

Baffling processes

The digital processes that allow Knudson to plant with straight-line precision under such conditions are mind-boggling. As it maneuvers through the sea of ​​rye over hilly terrain, each of the 16 individual travel drives automatically switches on and off, dropping the seeds in a row and evenly spaced. High in the sky, constellations of satellites track his every move, down to the centimeter. A small screen documents the exact location of each seed.

Abstractly, the system represents a technological triumph of human innovation – a marvel of the modern age. But for Knudson, it’s just another day at the office. His modesty downplays the complexity beneath the steel skin of his machine: “A farmer is only as good as his tools. Technology is a tool,” he says.

Changing expectations

As the agricultural workforce shrinks and the world’s population increases, machines with such advanced technology are shouldering a greater share of the burden every year. Farmers are also evolving. It’s a trend that has been going on for a while and that everyone (not just farmers) is preparing for.

Adam Meyers, regional operations manager at Kansas-based Baldwin City Heritage Tractor, says dealer networks are broadly positioning themselves to manage automated farm equipment fleets in the future. For example, technicians’ skills are evolving to meet new and future demands.

“We can teach someone how to turn a wrench,” Meyers says.

Repair technicians of modern agricultural equipment, more than motorheads, need to know their way around a computer as well as a combine harvester.

Nowadays, when a machine breaks down, “it’s usually electrical. It’s technology,” he adds.

A double-edged sword

While machines and the ecosystems that run them become increasingly digital, farmers’ dependence on agricultural equipment is the same as ever. It’s a double-edged sword.

This spring’s sunny weather brought many operations to a standstill as guidance systems led machines astray. Many jokes were made about the breakout of the mechanical row markings of yesteryear, highlighting how dependent modern growers have become on precision guidance systems. Planting with row markings is a lost skill, and when the crops fully emerge this summer, some fields will undoubtedly be marked with row markings.

But while the event made farmers appreciate conventional tools, the aurora lights also highlighted the skills of younger growers like Knudson. Setting up a guidance line may not be difficult in itself. Keeping track of increasingly complex systems is.

The farmers of the past were only as good as their machines – mechanical row markings and all. This also applies to today’s growers – with precision guidance and all.