Northern light over a farm house.
Our host star goes through cycles of activity, and there are some periods of intense solar storms.
These solar storms can cause dazzling auroras in the night sky, but they also have a surprising impact down here on Earth — wreaking havoc on modern farms.
Modern agriculture utilizes GPS technology, enabling tractors to navigate fields with pinpoint accuracy via satellite signals.
Unfortunately, solar storms interfere with GPS signals by releasing charged particles.
These disruptions can cause tractors to come to an unexpected halt while planting, veer off course, create uneven rows, or even lose their sense of location entirely.
A recent incident has come into the spotlight where these things happened, the SpaceWeather.com reported.
The severe solar storm that occurred this May impacted agricultural operations during the peak of the planting season in the US.
“Our tractors acted like they were demon-possessed,” Elaine Ramstad, aurora chaser told SpaceWeather.com.
“All my cousins called me during the May 10th storm to tell me that ‘my auroras’ were driving them crazy while they were planting,” added Ramstad, who assists with family farming operations in Northern Minnesota.
The Sun is currently entering a period of heightened activity in its 11-year cycle.
This increased activity involves the release of powerful solar storms, which are streams of charged particles and plasma directed toward Earth.
NASA predicts that this period of intense solar activity will continue for the next two years, impacting Earth in various ways.
Earth experienced a major solar storm on May 10, 2024 — one of the most powerful in decades.
The solar storm was classified as a G5 event, the most severe level on the geomagnetic storm scale. A series of powerful solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Sun triggered this storm. CMEs often form massive clouds of charged particles that hurl toward the Earth and surrounding space.
The interaction of these CMEs with Earth’s magnetic field led to disruptions in communication and GPS systems. The planting season was already in progress at the time of the disruption.
Planting season is a demanding time for farmers, often requiring long hours of work, including nighttime shifts.
This reliance on GPS is widespread. Many farmers use it for everything from planting to harvesting.
Smart GPS-based tractors can operate continuously, planting seeds and fertilizers with precision in perfectly straight rows.
“I would guess 80 percent or more of all farmers in the Midwest use at least basic GPS for something — whether it’s auto-steer or yield mapping,” John Deere service manager Ethan Smidt told SpaceWeather.
“At least 50 percent of all farmers are VERY reliant on GPS and use it on every machine all year long,” Deere added.
The culprit is the ionosphere, a layer of Earth’s atmosphere that’s normally a shield against solar particles. But during solar storms, it gets filled with charged particles.
This increased density within the ionosphere disrupts the passage of radio waves, leading to distortions in GPS signals.
Reportedly, farm tractors also experienced further navigation issues during the solar storms of October 6th and 10th.
On October 6th, while defoliating sugar beets, Ramstad encountered significant GPS disruptions. The tractor’s Autosteer system became erratic, leading to inaccurate navigation and missed rows. As the aurora activity intensified, the GPS signal deteriorated further, rendering the Autosteer system completely inoperable.
These disruptions can be costly for farmers, as planting delays can reduce their crop yields and overall income.
Engineers are already looking for ways to make tractors less reliant on GPS. This could involve using machine learning and AI for navigation.
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