Corporate Farming (GPS FaRming and Monsanto)

My Original comment on a forum:  Hey, what about monsanto, the GPS systems they set up in all the fields here in the heartland? And the GPS or Satellite ran or GPS ran tractors with NO seats or Steering wheels for the "Farmer" to sit in? They don't have a cabin? What's the deal with this? What if after converting all the tractors over to machines capable of being controlled by a corporation and a satellite in the sky, that they won't one day raise the cost of food and textiles and agricultural based products that we need in order to survive to astronomical prices that we can't afford. Then eliminated the Jobs of the farmer and blue collar workers. Then causing in turn a strain on our welfare system and taxpayers. Causing the government to have to raise our taxes leaving us more strapped for cash and starving to death? Or if they decide to turn of the satellites that control the tractors from their "magic" switch? Thus controlling the supply and the demand and monopolizing our food. I bet it will be like Project soylent green.

And did you know they can write you a ticket based on the speed or distance that your car travels from one point to another in a certain amount of time. If your vehicle has a GPS system or ON-STAR installed, and they determine that you got there faster than they thought you should because of calculations stored in the computer system of your car.(they even tell you when or gas cap is not on tight enough) They(the elusive they) can Issue Tickets and they will stand up in court. Your Car is keeping tabs on you!!!!!

They also know where you are at all times with your gps activated and with the GPS system in your phone.

Talk about being all conspiranoid on the GPS system!!!!!

I live out here in the heartland where it is going on. I am asking about if anyone else knows about this. How many cotton and corn and wheat farmer friends do you have? How many tractors do you see daily?

Well when you are starving to death and can't afford the price of food or clothing because the government owns everything, remember you guys were told...but it will be too late then. Won't it?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/jan-june98/gps_5-21.html

GPS in the field.

Air Traffic Control SPENCER MICHELS: Some airlines are already using GPS routinely for navigation on over-water flights, and, United Airlines officials say, GPS will be the key in redesigning the nation's air traffic control system to permit greater flexibility and efficiency. Besides airborne experiments, Stanford researchers are developing GPS for use by farmers bent on increasing accuracy of their plowing and in decreasing labor costs. Prof. Parkinson and his students have outfitted this tractor with an array of GPS receivers, linked to a computer. They took their experimental vehicle to a farm south of Fresno to see what it could do. They ran the tractor in the fog, when visibility was bad. They ran it at night; they ran it with a driver, and then without one. Michael O'Conner oversaw the program.

Michael O'Conner MICHAEL O'CONNER: I was very excited. The first time it worked, I couldn't believe it. And just watching this thing drive where I was asking it to go, and it was amazing. It was very accurate. It could repeat the same tire tracks time and time again. It was just wonderful.

S Field SPENCER MICHELS: To show how accurately GPS could guide the tractor, they plowed a block S, for Stanford, in the field, something a farmer probably could never do. Mark Borba, who lent his field to the students, was impressed.

MARK BORBA: We're blessed with a university and a research-based system here that delivers technology to us, and the more quickly we can employ it, the better advantage we will have over our competitors.

SPENCER MICHELS: The experiment continues with the prospects high for commercial use within a few years.

BRADFORD PARKINSON: I would say it's going to be in every automobile. It's going to be in probably half the farm tractors. All the mining equipment is going to be, open pit mines will be operated robotically. I see it in ships. I see it controlling all the timing in the whole nation. I suspect that within the United States alone there'll be over 20 million users.

SPENCER MICHELS: As Global Positioning System devices become more widespread, and factories crank out newer and less costly models, users want to ensure that the signals they now get for free won't cost them. And the makers and designers of GPS equipment want the military to continue the expensive business of maintaining the satellites and adding to their number to ensure robust and accurate signals.

Farmers have known for decades that some farm practices produce better results than others, but many of these advanced practices require very accurate placement of seed, fertilizers and irrigation lines. For example, seeding in the exact center of a cultivated row and spraying in a focused band can dramatically increase crop yields, reduce chemical usage and control costs. Also, farmers operate in difficult conditions such as rain, fog, dust and darkness. With traditional human-steered tractors, it is nearly impossible for even an experienced driver to reliably repeat straight crop rows. Normally, a tractor will wobble from 10 to 30 cm as it encounters small obstacles or experiences operator error-not to mention drivers nodding off from the monotony of driving through furrow after furrow.

While Cohen was busy landing airplanes, graduate student Mike O'Connor took the first step towards automating the control of land vehicles by using a GPS receiver and a yacht steering mechanism to drive an electric golf cart in a straight line without anyone aboard. The success of this experiment enabled Parkinson, O'Connor, and other members of the GPS lab to approach the John Deere tractor company to fund research in adapting GPS position control technology for agricultural uses. The solution that O'Connor and other members of the GPS student team came up with was a variation of the GPS airplane landing system. Antennas were placed on top of the tractor cab, and they received GPS signals from a reference station, called a pseudolite (a ground-based pseudo-satellite transmitter similar to the Integrity Beacon), located in the field. The GPS signals provided centimeter-level accuracy on the tractor's exact position and attitude, and this information, along with sensor information from the tractors front wheel angle, was fed into a computer in the tractor's cab. The computer, which had been loaded with a driving map of the field controlled the tractor's steering, while a human driver still controlled the throttle and brakes.

A friend commented to my post :  THIS is why I grow all of our own food, am growing that crazy brier fence around my property and going the he11 away! I also am constantly educating myself on herbal medicine, and living off the land in eastern KY for days at a time.
My family thinks I'm crazy.
But, I was right all along...
Your post scares the living sh1t out of me.

Another Friend Countered this post with:  Its real you can't escape it already being used at few large farms, the use GPS computer technology driven tractors to plant seeds faster, more efficient, more cost-effective, saves alot of manpower...

Friend replied back to the counter with : Corporate farming; the end of us all...

My Reply to both of them:  I am trying to share information with these people. They think I am a nut. I live here where its going on. So I started researching it. I didn't like what I found. Please Help me stop this from happening. Please help me tell all the other farmers to not buy the GPS tractors. Repost it to your blogs. Get everyone else aware.

Thanks for actually reading my message (name omitted due to privacy)! Thank you for not laughing and poking fun at me.