Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Seeding Season

This morning I was out in the area, looking for this event that had so many farmers with a gleam in their eyes, seeding.

I spent a bit of time in a tractor with Mike who was on a shift running a field near their house.

John Deere & Flexicoil

Check out a short collection of shots from the morning, here.

I had heard about this hands free steering stuff but it really is amazing. The tractor links with a satellite, and the satellite sends directions and speed and turn directions to the tractor and seeder, and the farmer keeps an eye on things. Think Captain Kirk on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise and you'll get the idea.

Here's a short video I shot with my phone.



It was a thing of beauty to behold. Up in the bridge with little dust, stereo playing, radioing back to the farm for more seed and fertilizer, cell phone calls coming and going, air conditioner keeping cool, video link to the inside of the seed hopper to confirm the decreasing volume numbers on the screen, another screen with the numbers of seed and fertilizer being injected into the ground, and remaining amounts, and a screen with the position of the seeder in the field with the satellite directing traffic. No wonder when Mike opened the door he said "Welcome to my office!"

2 comments:

  1. It's a wonder more people don't get into farming when they hear stuff like this...sounds like a fabulous life if you can take the stress of Canadian weather.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's not the farming that I remember from my childhood.

    ReplyDelete



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