Robot Farm: How farms are planting the seeds of technological progress

Automation isn’t limited to the dairy. It its taking root in nearly every system onboard combine harvesters and tractors. The mechanized behemoths kick up dust across Indiana’s 14.7 million acres of farmland each autumn.  As they rumble over the row crops, combines are tracking every soy bean pod or ear of corn they take in. Crop productivity data is harvested and sent to the farmer. The machines use signals from GPS satellites high above the Earth, to pinpoint their location and drive themselves with precision. Although an operator sits in the cockpit, no hands are on the steering wheel.“The modern combine harvester as more lines of computer code than the space shuttle did when it first launched in 1981,” explains Chad Lantz of Troxel Equipment. “These machines are about 80 percent electronic and 20 percent mechanical.”Mr. Lantz would know. He’s been fixing combines and tractors for years. Now, he can do most of the work without leaving his office. Each implement is connected to the internet through a cellular connection. Engine performance, speed and direction are tracked and sent in near real-time to Lantz at Troxel’s office in Bluffton. He can fine tune operating parameters from the comfort of his office chair.“These machines can tell me of a problem before it turns into a bigger one,” Lantz explained.