The solar storm that has dazzled people with aurora borealis across the United States over the past two nights has also disrupted GPS satellites and disrupted the operations of some Midwestern farmers. report 404 Media. The issue has forced many corn farmers to halt planting as a crucial planting deadline approaches.
The storm reportedly temporarily took „some GPS systems“ offline and compromised the accuracy of the „real-time kinematics“ (RTK) system. Tractors from John Deere and other brands use his RTK to achieve „centimeter-level positional accuracy“ when performing agricultural tasks such as planting crops and fertilizing. 404 Media is written.
The „severely compromised“ system caused „drastic changes to the field and even some changes in direction“ for those who continued planting during the outage. according to the warning It arrived over the weekend from Landmark Implement, a John Deere dealer in Kansas and Nebraska. Mr. Landmark said that when the tractor guidance system, AutoPass, later came time to tend, the planted rows would not be there, and the fields planted while the GPS system was compromised. That said, it can be difficult or impossible to use. .
One of the worst solar storms to hit Earth in more than two decades is expected to end soon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), but it comes at a critical time for corn crops. ing. Willie Cade of the advocacy group Repair.org said: 404 Media He said May 15 is „an important day to plant corn,“ and that if corn farmers aren't able to plant their crop by then, „we're going to be in trouble.“
Tom Schwartz, an organic farmer also quoted in the article, said the solar storm shut down his operations and now the weather forecast threatens to postpone planting further. His farm and others like it use RTK systems to plant crops right up to the edge of the lanes that tractors use to drive between lanes. If the GPS is inaccurate during planting, he risks destroying the crop later because the human driver is „unable to steer.“ Fast enough or good enough to keep the tractor between the rows.
Broadly speaking, agriculture as practiced today relies heavily on: High-tech and often highly automated tractors and other equipment. Because the entire lifecycle of a crop is embedded in technology, farmers often have no recourse when things go wrong.That trust is part of the reason there's so much momentum. Behind the Right to Repair Act Now, when a tractor breaks down, farmers want to be able to repair it themselves rather than relying on the manufacturer.
Magnetic storms like the one affecting farmers this weekend are caused by plasma and magnetized particles flying off the Sun in a phenomenon called a coronal mass ejection. NOAA Evaluate using increasingly strict standards From G1 to G5.Storms that have been hitting the Earth in recent days Reached G5.
NOAA announces solar storm as „severe to extreme'' greater than G4 It might happen again today. So far, no solar storm-related disruptions have been widely reported due to the storm, but Starlink has experienced „degraded performance.“ Reuters Some people reported issues on Reddit with flight system or HAM wireless transmission.