[SIZE=6]A tractor fit for Mad Max: Rugged machine carves up 150 acres of land in a day and can plough round the clock[/SIZE]
By Sarah Griffiths for MailOnline19:25 BST 23 Mar 2015, updated 19:56 BST 23 Mar 2015
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[li]Tractor has a rugged look and is the latest in agricultural machinery[/li][li]Challenger MT775 can cultivate 150 acres of land in a single day[/li][li]It has a GPS steering system so it can drive in perfectly straight lines[/li][li]Cab of the tractor has luxuries such as leather seats and a DVD player [/li][/ul]
Emerging out of the landscape with the rumble of its powerful engine, this sinister-looking machine looks as if it comes from a battlefield or the set of a Mad Max film.
But instead of helping people face a fictional apocalyptic reality, the tractor is the latest in agricultural machinery and is designed to make life easier for farmers.
Called the Challenger MT775, it can cultivate a staggering 150 acres of land in a single day, which is the equivalents of 100 football pitches.
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It may look a little like one of the sinister machines from Mad Max, but this tractor is the latest in agricultural machinery and is designed to make life easier for farmers
The machine can also run around the clock, boosting efficiency and profit for landowners.
The US-made tractor is guided by GPS and steers with an accuracy over the ground of less than an inch.
GPS systems are used to steer tractors in more precise patterns than humans are capable of.
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The US-made tractor is controlled by satellite and works and steers with an accuracy over the ground of less than an inch. Its rugged appearance bears some resemblance to the vehicles in Mad Max (pictured)
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Called the Challenger MT775, the tractor (pictured) can cultivate a staggering 150 acres of land in a single day, which is the equivalents of 100 football pitches. And unlike the vehicles in Mad Max, it’s built to keep drivers comfortable, with leather seats and a DVD player fitted in the cab
The ‘Mad Max’ tractor which can cultivate 150 acres a day
[SIZE=4]USES FOR GPS ON THE FARM [/SIZE]
Farmers Weekly told MailOnline that GPS steering systems are farmers’ favourite piece of modern farming technology.
Steering systems got one third of the total votes out of the top 10 favourite farming tools.
They are used to steer tractors in more precise patterns than humans are capable of, resulting in significant savings and improved productivity.
GPS provides accurate location information by calculating the distance from at least three satellites and can also be used on farms to analyse soil fertility, Alex Thomasson, professor of biological and agricultural engineering at Texas A&M University wrote in an article for The Conversation.
Farmers can use a GPS receiver to collect soil samples from pre-selected parts of fields.
They then send the samples off to a lab for analysis, which creates a fertility map of their farm.
Farmers can use the map to work out the amount of fertiliser needed for each location, giving their crops the best chance of growing and saving them money.
Variable-rate technology (VRT) fertiliser applicators dispense just the right amount of fertiliser in each location, varying the qualities as the farmers go along.
Before GPS, it was down to the driver to keep the tractor straight to avoid using too much seed, fertiliser or fuel, but today many farmers have some form of GPS steering, which means overlapping has all but disappeared and straight lines are easy.
This has resulted in significant savings and improved productivity, which is why the innovation is a firm favourite with tech-savvy farmers.
GPS self-steering systems were voted as being British farmners’ favourite piece of modern farming technology in a poll by Farmers Weekly.
But not all tractors using the technology are as impressive and inwardly luxurious as this latest model.
Despite its rugged appearance, the tractor offers a comfortable ride for drivers.
The cab is fitted with climate control and the seat is leather and heated.
There is even a DVD player to watch while the tractor follows its pre-set path up and down fields.
Only 28 of the machines - which cost up to a quarter of a million pounds each ($373,000) - will be made, and Britain is set to be one of the biggest markets.
One East Anglian land-owner said: ‘Years ago a 1,000-acre farm would have employed 40 men - but with a machine like this the same acreage can be farmed by just one man.’
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In the film, people travel across an apocalyptic wasteland with few resources in a bid to survive. Max, a man of action and few words, seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos. This truck is one of the extraordinary vehicles to feature in the latest film
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Only 28 of the machines (pictured) - which cost up to a quarter of a million pounds each ($373,000) - will be made, and Britain is set to be one of the biggest markets
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The tractor’s rugged appearance bears some resemblance to the vehicles in Mad Max. This still from the latest film, shows Tom Hardy, who plays Max riding a motorcycle in considerable discomfort. However, the tractor features luxuries such as leather seats, for example
[SIZE=4]DRONES GIVE FARMERS AN ‘EYE IN THE SKY’ TO CHECK CROP PROGRESS[/SIZE]
For farmers, aerial photographs taken by drones offer a quick and easy way to check on the progress of crops and determine where they may need to replant or direct pesticide applications.
Researchers at the University of Illinois are using drones on farms to take aerial photos of crops growing in research plots.
Dennis Bowman, a crop science teacher at the university, deliberately made mistakes on one test plot by not applying enough nitrogen fertilizer and is now using drones to see if they can reveal potentially weaker crops.
‘As the crop gets up and going, we’ll fly over it and see if we can detect those areas sooner than we could visually from the ground,’ he said.
‘We’re also looking at doing some scans over our herbicide studies to see if the drone photography can help us identify where crops are stressed by postemergence herbicide applications.’
Mr Bowman spent two summers as a commercial crop scout and said that walking through tasseling corn in high temperatures is unpleasant.
‘The odds of actually getting to the far end of that field on foot to see what’s going on are pretty slim. To get a bird’s-eye view of your crop, the drones offer a handy way to do it.’
He is using two quadricopters affixed with a Go-Pro camera and a Canon Powershot SX260 camera with a lens for infrared photography to see if they can spot potential crop trouble.
‘Standard pictures and video taken with drones can tell us a lot. But what we’re looking to give us even more information is multispectral cameras that can give us imagery in other wavelengths, such as near-infrared, to help us identify areas of crop stress.
‘It probably isn’t going to tell us what the problem is, but it will tell us where problems are so that we can target our scouting in those specific areas and determine what might be occurring.’
Infrared images will help the researchers identify plants in the farm that appear to be absorbing or reflecting light differently - an indication that the plants are under some type of stress, such as pests, disease or nutrient deficiencies.
The drones may be used to spot an invasive weed called Palmer amaranth, which is spreading across the Midwest and is becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides to the extent that it could drastically reduce farmers’ yield potential in affected fields.
‘Before the soybean rows close, or if we get a different spectrum response from some of these weeds as they break through the canopy, we may see some of those weeds show up in the imagery as well to identify where there are hot spots and problems,’ Mr Bowman said.