Farming: Satellite failure ‘cripples’ farmers as GPS-guided tractors grind to a halt

Automation yields efficiency improvements, but along with it dependencies.

They are enabled with GPS tracking and can be guided to an accuracy within two centimetres, enabling seed-planting equipment to sow crops with precision to drive up efficiency, prevent wastage and boost environmental sustainability.

All that went out the window when the Inmarsat-41 satellite signal failed.

This also highlights how much farming has changed. My grandpa didn’t even have a radio in most of his tractors. Now if you take away GPS the machine just stops.