Why connectivity is the key to the future of farming
US tractor manufacturer John Deere has signed a deal with SpaceX’s Starlink that will see Elon Musk’s satellite company provide high-speed internet connectivity to farming equipment in remote locations around the world.
The deal reflects the fast-moving change underway in farming, which is moving from a sector usually thought of as low-tech to one based on sophisticated precision agriculture where the collection and use of data is increasingly important.
It is becoming common to see everything from increasingly sophisticated tractors — prompting debate over control of the software they use — to the use of GPS micromapping, humidity and temperature sensors, drones to monitor and treat of plants or processes of all kinds based on a much greater granularity, all of which allows for much more selective applications in order to avoid the harmful effects of overuse of fertilizers or insecticides without giving up the advantages they provide.
Nevertheless, this will be a complex transition: John Deere itself, a company traditionally understood as…
