Modern combines are a revolution in technology

Since steam-powered threshing machines replaced hand-swung flails into the first Industrial Revolution, farm harvesting equipment has come  a long way. 

Modern hulking John Deere harvesters are jammed to the brim with  hydraulics and able to process a phenomenal amount of crop — advances  that farm labourers in the 1800s couldn’t even begin to fathom. 

But what has really revolutionized modern farming is the GPS. 

“Basically you stuck an antenna on your tractor, you had a light bar  on the window and if your light wasn’t centred, you’d just turn until  that light comes back to centre and you follow the row all the way  down,” Jonathan Aarts said recently, standing in the shadow of a  towering John Deere S660 combine harvester.

That was nearly 20 years ago. Today, it’s a matter of sitting down,  and turning on what equates to autopilot for farmers — the combines can  literally steer themselves through a field. 

Together with his father, Lenny Aarts, Jonathan works over 3,000  acres of cash crops in the Wainfleet area and manages the fleet of  harvesters, planters and sprayers. 

Jonathan jokingly (or not so jokingly) says he’s unsure if he could  steer a straight row without the help of GPS these days. “You get kinda  spoiled,” he said.

Inside of the S660’s cab are screens and panels of buttons reminiscent of a plane cockpit. 

Hundreds of sensors all over the machine constantly feed data to  screens in the cab, which help the operator tailor how the harvester  runs.

Combine operators can tweak a suite of harvesting controls on a  touchscreen monitor and use a computer-assisted program to help the  operator optimize the combine to ever changing crop and terrain  conditions. 

The modern farming tech revolution may have begun with GPS but it doesn’t end there — wireless internet connectivity has also become as  integral for farmers. 

Dave Podbury, a technician with Huron Tractor, and a tradesman with a  wealth of knowledge under his cap, recently performed an annual service  inspection on the Aarts’s S660.

He’s able to wirelessly “push” software updates and said occasionally, troubleshooting can even be done without leaving home.

And what’s more, Jonathan is able to manage the farm’s fleet of equipment from afar. 

Remote access allows data like fuel levels, travel speed and GPS  locations, to be viewed from a computer screen or a smartphone app. 

“Our combine monitor actually runs from an iPad,” Aarts said.  Harvesting data like yields and moisture levels are collected and pinged  off to the “cloud.” 

Technology also plays a major role in planting. Fields are mapped out  ahead of time based off of harvesting data, which can reveal what areas  of a field needs extra attention. 

An agronomist can then design a tailored “prescription map” for  fertilizers that is uploaded to a sprayer, which can apply the chemical  with precision previously unheard of in modern farming. The technology  mitigates environmental impact and helps a farmer’s wallet. 

The future of farming is already well on its way toward an increasing  reliance on automation, robotics, artificial intelligence — maybe one  day, the machines will run themselves.