Daisy Dobrijevic joined Space.com in February 2022 having previously worked for our sister publication All About Space magazine as a staff writer. Before joining us, Daisy completed an editorial internship with the BBC Sky at Night Magazine and worked at the National Space Centre in Leicester, U.K.
Jam packed issues filled with the latest cutting-edge research, technology and theories delivered in an entertaining and visually stunning way, aiming to educate and inspire readers of all agesModern-day farming is a high-tech operation highly dependent on GPS-guided tractors revolutionizing the way crops are planted, fertilized and harvested. But on May 10, 2024, that system came under attack, not from mechanical failure or sophisticated hackers, but from the sun itself.
Modern farming relies heavily on precision. Using GPS-guided tractors, farmers can plant thousands of acres in perfectly straight rows, accurately applying just the right amount of fertilizer to ensure optimum yields. When it's time to harvest, the machines can return to the exact same positions to pick the crops, minimizing wastage and ensuring maximum efficiency."If it just happens at the wrong time, in the wrong season, if it holds everything up by three or four days.
"I would guess 80% or more of all farmers in the Midwest use at least basic GPS for something — whether it's auto-steer or yield mapping," Ethan Smidt, a service manager for agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere, told Spaceweather.com."At least 50% of all farmers are VERY reliant on GPS and use it on every machine all year long."
"Our tractors acted like they were demon possessed," Ramstad recalls."All my cousins called me during the storm to say 'my' were driving them crazy while they were planting." Tractors, unable to maintain GPS locks, lurched back and forth, forcing farmers to switch to manual controls or stop entirely.
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