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I was with you, right up until you said "Out with the old, and in with the new." You're first paragraph is spot on. But. The next step is, DIY tractors, as if

I was with you, right up until you said "Out with the old, and in with the new." You're first paragraph is spot on. But. The next step is, DIY tractors, as if they were hot rod motorcycles, since, let's be honest... Tractors are NOT high technology items. Okay, so tractors aren't as sexy as motorcyles, and gear heads don't cut their teeth on John Deer. So... just buy ordinary tractors, why not? They are basically covered wagons with motors, and attached shovels. They scrape dirt. They sift potatoes out of mud. Why do tractors need horrendously advanced software at all? How complicated is a riding lawn mower? These are not jumbo jets with multi-core governed CPU voting systems. Tractors don't have ailerons that need to adjust pitch and yaw at hypersonic velocities. They fucking creep along at like 5MPH. Christ. Then, after that one little nitpick, I'm with you all the way.

nitrogen 11y ago
Tractors are NOT high technology items. You'd be surprised. There are far more lasers, GPS units, etc. in use at the typical farm than owned by the typical consumer.
- oneJob 11y ago
  Indeed. I stopped reading when I got to that line. Modern tractors are industrial production machines valued according to their output, and designed as such. These things are indeed complex, expensive, wonders of technology. Not only that, they are no longer simply tractors, they are now parts of systems.
  - emcrazyone 11y ago
    correct, I'm presently doing work for one of the largest tractor manufacturers developing software for them. There are all kinds of technology in these things as well as on the farm itself in the form of GPS correction (called RTK) to deal with auto guidance and improving GPS accuracy. We are also building mesh networks so a tractor and a combine can be driven by one person & having the combine follow the tractor in side-by-side fashion. I work on over the air software updates, some of the touch screens are essentially custom computers running Android. We have a number of on board modules handling steering and precision farming as it's called in the industry. All these modules are interconnected with a mix of technology (CAN, TCP/IP over Broad-R-Reach, LIN, WiFi, and GPS). Check out ISOBUS too... ISOBUS is a technology where any tractor can be connected to any tow behind implement, including 3rd party, and that implement's GUI is shown on a touch panel for the operator to control and program. In short, there's a lot there. And it's a very competitive market.
    - oneJob 11y ago
      Would love your take on the open-sourxe/proprietary issue, especially as it affects the farmers ability to fix or improve their own equipment, legally.
  - wonkaWonka 11y ago
    I stopped reading when I got to the part where you said you stopped reading.
nekopa 11y ago
"tractors equipped with cutting edge technology, as agricultural equipment makers increasingly incorporate elements of data analytics, GPS and remote sensing in a race to make farming more precise."[1] [1] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a48ad98c-36c7-11e3-aaf1-00144feab7de.html#axzz3xD0sBhEo http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a48ad98c-36c7-11e3-aaf1-00144feab7...
emcrazyone 11y ago
you are so fucking clueless... Tractors have a lot of technology in them. Here is a very short list of you: RTK: Makes GPS based steering more accurate. Often a dedicated RTK transmitter is installed on the farm for the tractor to pick up and use to correct against the GPS you may be already familiar with like the one in your car or smartphone. End of Row Guidance: A piece of software that allows you to program macros to control an orchestrated set of events for the implement you're pulling behind you. (seeder, bailer, combine). There are many repeatable events that happen when farming from lowering & raising seeders, dealing with drift, changing seeding depth based on previously collected yield data, etc... Mesh Networks: So one guy can drive a tractor and a combine with the combine following next to the tractor. Auto Guidance: Think self driving car. Functional safety is a huge problem for companies producing self driving tractors - see ISO26262 ISOBUS: Is a technology whereby an implement is attached to a tractor and the tractor's cabin display creates a GUI image and/or menu for that implement to control it. The display need not have any advanced knowledge of the implement. So even the implements have an on board computer too. It really irks me to see comments like yours. You clearly don't work in this field buy your comments come off as someone with all this great knowledge about how things work. Have you even bothered to research such topics as precision farming? These tractors collect tons of data year over year in order maximize yield which is very important to farmers and their ROI. Grow up, do your homework next time.
- wonkaWonka 11y ago
  you are so fucking clueless... Tractors hardly need any of that technology. It really irks me to see comments like yours. You clearly don't work in this field since your comments come off as someone with all this great knowledge about how things work. Have you even bothered to research such topics as non-precision farming? These tractors collect tons of data year over year in order maximize worthless imaginary justifications for more cargo cult technology. Grow up, learn to grasp the premise of the comments you read.

nitrogen 11y ago

Tractors are NOT high technology items. You'd be surprised. There are far more lasers, GPS units, etc. in use at the typical farm than owned by the typical consumer.

oneJob 11y ago
Indeed. I stopped reading when I got to that line. Modern tractors are industrial production machines valued according to their output, and designed as such. These things are indeed complex, expensive, wonders of technology. Not only that, they are no longer simply tractors, they are now parts of systems.
- emcrazyone 11y ago
  correct, I'm presently doing work for one of the largest tractor manufacturers developing software for them. There are all kinds of technology in these things as well as on the farm itself in the form of GPS correction (called RTK) to deal with auto guidance and improving GPS accuracy. We are also building mesh networks so a tractor and a combine can be driven by one person & having the combine follow the tractor in side-by-side fashion. I work on over the air software updates, some of the touch screens are essentially custom computers running Android. We have a number of on board modules handling steering and precision farming as it's called in the industry. All these modules are interconnected with a mix of technology (CAN, TCP/IP over Broad-R-Reach, LIN, WiFi, and GPS). Check out ISOBUS too... ISOBUS is a technology where any tractor can be connected to any tow behind implement, including 3rd party, and that implement's GUI is shown on a touch panel for the operator to control and program. In short, there's a lot there. And it's a very competitive market.
  - oneJob 11y ago
    Would love your take on the open-sourxe/proprietary issue, especially as it affects the farmers ability to fix or improve their own equipment, legally.
- wonkaWonka 11y ago
  I stopped reading when I got to the part where you said you stopped reading.

nekopa 11y ago

"tractors equipped with cutting edge technology, as agricultural equipment makers increasingly incorporate elements of data analytics, GPS and remote sensing in a race to make farming more precise."[1] [1] http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a48ad98c-36c7-11e3-aaf1-00144feab7de.html#axzz3xD0sBhEo http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a48ad98c-36c7-11e3-aaf1-00144feab7...

emcrazyone 11y ago

you are so fucking clueless... Tractors have a lot of technology in them. Here is a very short list of you: RTK: Makes GPS based steering more accurate. Often a dedicated RTK transmitter is installed on the farm for the tractor to pick up and use to correct against the GPS you may be already familiar with like the one in your car or smartphone. End of Row Guidance: A piece of software that allows you to program macros to control an orchestrated set of events for the implement you're pulling behind you. (seeder, bailer, combine). There are many repeatable events that happen when farming from lowering & raising seeders, dealing with drift, changing seeding depth based on previously collected yield data, etc... Mesh Networks: So one guy can drive a tractor and a combine with the combine following next to the tractor. Auto Guidance: Think self driving car. Functional safety is a huge problem for companies producing self driving tractors - see ISO26262 ISOBUS: Is a technology whereby an implement is attached to a tractor and the tractor's cabin display creates a GUI image and/or menu for that implement to control it. The display need not have any advanced knowledge of the implement. So even the implements have an on board computer too. It really irks me to see comments like yours. You clearly don't work in this field buy your comments come off as someone with all this great knowledge about how things work. Have you even bothered to research such topics as precision farming? These tractors collect tons of data year over year in order maximize yield which is very important to farmers and their ROI. Grow up, do your homework next time.

wonkaWonka 11y ago
you are so fucking clueless... Tractors hardly need any of that technology. It really irks me to see comments like yours. You clearly don't work in this field since your comments come off as someone with all this great knowledge about how things work. Have you even bothered to research such topics as non-precision farming? These tractors collect tons of data year over year in order maximize worthless imaginary justifications for more cargo cult technology. Grow up, learn to grasp the premise of the comments you read.