Canada: Potato growers on P.E.I. using GPS to plant more efficiently

As potato growers across Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) plant this year’s crop, many are using the latest GPS technology to guide them. “I’d say probably 80 per cent of growers out there would have something like this,” said Will MacNeill, owner of Atlantic Precision Agri-Services, in West Devon, P.E.I. “The most common technology is auto steer, where we steer the tractor and steer the planter with one inch accuracy just to maintain perfect spacing between passes,” said MacNeill. MacNeill’s company has been selling and servicing GPS equipment since 1997, but says sales have really taken off in the last five years. “Nowadays margins are so tight in the potato industry and in all of farming, you just have to be very careful with what you do, not to waste any fertilizer, waste any chemicals or sprays, just to be very very efficient in what you’re doing,” explained MacNeill. More