| Ever since I have been able to use Garmin GPS I | | | | big one Jose uses, he can take it down the field |
| can now grow crops more effectively than | | | | and use the big seeder in an absolute straight line |
| before. You might wonder to yourself "How can | | | | after making perfect reference lines with the |
| some Podunk farmer grow better with GPS?" | | | | truck. Additionally to that, Jose can also drive the |
| Well, first of all, we're not all like that, and | | | | seeder using a handheld Garmin GPS fitted to the |
| secondly the trick is how you manage it on your | | | | dashboard, and know if he's going straight enough |
| land. With my Garmin GPS mapping and my | | | | or not. The entire GPS has allowed me to |
| tractors and planters using it I can fit more crop | | | | marginally increase my production, which means I |
| onto one field than ever before, by making | | | | increase my profit, and by doing that keep my |
| precision decision, as I say. First of all let's say you | | | | farming as profitable as possible, in spite of these |
| have yourself a nice mapped out chunk of land | | | | times. |
| that is the shape of a square, and it is a total of | | | | I know I may not have a big farm, or a large |
| 10 acres of land. Well, the old way was planting | | | | workforce, but by being able to map out my land |
| by eye, or trying to drive in a straight line for | | | | and then plot out crops and use land that was |
| reference lines and then doing it. Of course there | | | | previously wasted I am able to take full |
| was nothing really wrong with that, but small | | | | advantage of the Garmin GPS to make sure I put |
| deviations created what could only be described | | | | food on the plates of people who buy my corn |
| as the butterfly effect. | | | | and other crops. I can also use those spaces |
| In basic terms it means small actions at the | | | | between the land that were previously unused |
| beginning could lead to large results at the end. If | | | | because of poor planning to grow smaller crops, |
| one of the workers I hire goes off and changes | | | | such as tomatoes; in some areas I also plan to |
| less than a degree in the angle of the crop line, it | | | | put in a few pumpkins too. With those crops I'll be |
| doesn't seem like much - but down the line it | | | | able to sell just a little bit more and that makes a |
| could equal to a whole line of crop being | | | | big difference down the line. Like I said, the |
| abandoned because it can't be fit into the parcel | | | | butterfly effect, it's responsible for variations |
| of land. Furthermore I can now map out the land | | | | costing me money, but also variations that can |
| easier, quicker, and make the rows just barely an | | | | make me money too. By saving what is |
| inch tighter, and fit in an extra row of, oh, let's | | | | insignificant as an inch, it grants me a foot every |
| say corn. By mapping it out using accurate maps, | | | | twelve rows, and after three sets of twelve, that |
| and Garmin GPS I can make sure that my crops | | | | is three extra feet of growing room - something |
| will grow correctly and the way I want. | | | | I could have never done without the Garmin GPS. |
| That also means that in my farm trucks, like the | | | | |