Technology is king down on the farm – Computers, GPS, hybrid seeds bring new stability to crop yields

You look at Brandon Bonk, and nothing much jostles that image of a farmer in your head.

The farm’s in the wide nail beds on his weather-worn hands. It’s all over the leather gloves, once beige, now soiled brown with a hole in an index finger.

It’s caked in mud from his knee-high Muck boots on the floor mat and pedals of his gun-metal gray pickup truck.

But don’t be fooled. This 28-year-old fifth-generation farmer is a different breed.

His equipment is guided over nearly 3,000 acres he tends by satellites and microchips. His seed is morphed in labs to resist bugs and droughts. His fertilizer is rationed by sensors and software to encase the seed only, with nothing extra left to sit on the soil or leach into waterways.

Back in the farmhouse, a computer details soil sample results and analyses. It provides insight for fertilizer recommendations.

Cori Anne Natoli

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