21 Jun 2004
Wi-Fi farming expected to catch on

Maybe I'm becoming a Luddite, but I can't see the all the positives in this that the authors do. This takes the "hi touch" out of "hi tech", Megatrends notwithstanding.

We've talked about putting up wireless pasture cams, to watch for coyotes, and applying other hi tech measures to our operations. But ultimately, it's gotta come down to a human judgement, and technology can only extend ones reach so far.

This is somewhat the same lesson the American military is learning - you can obliterate a lot of things by remote control from the air, but wars are ultimately won on the ground, by the combat infantryman.

Farms of the not-too-distant future could be managed through wireless computer networks that allow farmers to sit in their pickups with a laptop and drive tractors, monitor soil moisture and even feed the hogs remotely.

(link) [CNN]

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