Click on image for link to Trimble GPS TutorialThe Global Positioning System (GPS) is a group of Satellites that the Department of Defense has in orbit around the earth that enables them to control modern weapons systems. Many of the smart weapons used in the Gulf War used this system to provide guidance. Today there are many peacetime uses of the technology. Agriculture uses the technology to provide a position to all of the applications, treatments and harvest operations done on the farm. Other users of GPS range from hikers, pilots, surveyors, truck drivers, virtually anything that moves can be controlled or adapted to be used with GPS.
Click on image for link to Trimble GPS Tutorial
More About GPS...(In Construction)
Agricultural Uses
Agricultural uses of GPS include the recording of Harvest activities with Yield Maps. A yield monitor records the yields every 1 second and the DGPS receiver gives the yield record a location. The data is then imported into a computer that gives the yield points colors according to a legend of the range of yields in that field. This allows the farmer to record and determine the best/worst yielding areas of the field to assist his management practices.
Other agricultural uses include pesticide/fertilizer application, crop scouting, and remote sensing. These operations, along with many land and climate characteristics, such as rainfall, elevation, drainage, fertility level, have a major impact on modern farms. Building a database of information allows the farmer to become more adept in the management of his farm and stewardship of his resources.
Soil pH is one factor that effects crop yields. This map shows a 5 acre grid of pH value.
"Remote Sensing" is the process of using normal or specialized photography from an airplane, or satellite to determine the health and potential yield of a crop before harvest. This is a normal photograph that has been classified and colorized by a computer to show areas that appear healthier at the time the photo was taken. This is a corn field, notice the farmstead and roadway are different colors, as well as the bean field that borders this field to the north.
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