[LINK] Ffx: 'Farmers ‘crippled’ ... as GPS-guided tractors grind to a halt'

[Roger Clarke]

> On 19/4/23 15:30, Roger Clarke wrote:
>> [ Total reliance, with no fallback of any kind? ...

On 22/4/23 2:52 pm, Tom Worthington wrote:
> Total reliance? These tractors are not autonomous, the GPS is just used 
> for finer navigation. The farmer could operate the tractor manually. 
> This would not give as precise control, but would allow crops to be 
> planted.
> 
> In one Marvel movie the pilot of the super-carrier says "Sir! The 
> navigation system is down!" The hero replies "The sun is shining isn't 
> it? Just keep it on your left".

Sounds like 'Left hand down a bit', 'Left hand down a bit it is, sir'.

Seems reasonable.  So you're suggesting that the chairman of the NFF 
farming systems committee was having a lend of a city reporter:

 > Chris Groves, chairman of the National Farmers Federation farming 
systems committee, is planting canola, grazing wheat and oats on his 
property between Canowindra and Cowra in NSW.
 >
 > He said the winter cropping period had kicked off with a perfectly 
timed autumn break — the first major rainfall event of the season that 
heralds the crops’ growth period — but the GPS outage would probably 
mean major costs and headaches for farmers.
 >
 > “This is crippling for the farm community,” Groves said.
...
 > “ ... GPS is our guidance system that eliminates overlapping [in rows 
of seeds] and over-application of chemicals, and when that system is 
down, the machine is literally down.
 >
 > “My planter is 32 rows wide; if I overlap by just two rows, that is 4 
per cent I am losing out on. When you’re paying $1300 [a tonne] for 
fertiliser, that really adds up very quickly.
 >
 > “My crop sprayer relies on the GPS signal to tell the spray unit how 
much chemical to put on, where it is in the paddock and how many nozzles 
it needs working.”

Let's have a stab at 16m width for 32 rows, with 50cm gaps.

A 2-row overlap means 2/32 more fertiliser @ $1300.00 per ton.
That's the same as a 6.5% price-increase, or  +$84.50 per ton.

At 8m width and 50cm gaps, double that to 2/16.

Anyone got a line on tons per acre and typical acreage out there?
10 tons, fine.  100 tons, ouch.  1000 tons, serious.


-- 
Roger Clarke                            mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
T: +61 2 6288 6916   http://www.xamax.com.au  http://www.rogerclarke.com

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Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law            University of N.S.W.
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University