Modern Farm Equipment from planting to harvesting
- Thread starter JudyM
- Start date
Some of those things have been around a good while (hay balers, Christmas tree wrapper) but I got a chuckle out of the chicken scooper upper or what it’s called. The chickens coming out at the end look dazed and confused 
My SIL’s ag equipment company sells an electric tractor with autopilot and GPS. Diesel powered tractors with GPS and self driving capabilities have been around for a while.
My SIL’s ag equipment company sells an electric tractor with autopilot and GPS. Diesel powered tractors with GPS and self driving capabilities have been around for a while.
I've been teaching the GIS end of the precision agriculture program at WWCC for a while. Still a lot of trained technicians behind that equipment and modern farm management. Takes a lot to put food on the table. The lab next to me has a "grape picker" that has sensors to detect the optimum time to pick and handle the fruit. Pretty amazing. But still, there's a trained technician, their just no longer picking, but instead setting up, running, and maintaining the equipment.
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We saw much the same thing with large industrial facilities operating via SCADA
(Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) systems...which can monitor and control complex automated facilities at a level no number of human workers can match.
What many of the managers and policy makers (thinking the huge investment was a 'one and done' that would allow them to permanently shed workers) did not initially understand is that it takes a very large staff of highly trained (and expensive) individuals to maintain the incredible number of primary device sensors and system driven components operating properly...and that such systems literally cannot be operated manually.
They also soon learned that multi-million dollar SCADA systems only have a lifespan of about 7 years, requiring huge replacement costs. The hardware and software components become ancient and unsupported in very short order.
Everything is proprietary and intentionally designed to be non-compatible with competing systems...or even subsequent generations from the same manufacturer. And no reputable engineering firm will touch an upgrade design without complete mfg approved whole system replacement because of liability.
And math hating illiterate lunchpail bubba, with his wrench, hammer, 12th man flag, and team parka, can't be trained to deal with any of it. His world is gone no matter who he voted for.
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And reinforced with very competent patent infringement attorneys...what modern rational corporation would conduct their business in any other way?
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