Wi-Fi networks on farms should allow farmers to control and monitor more of their operations remotely: Trial projects attempt to show that with farm-wide Wi-Fi coverage, that irrigation, packing, and other parts of a farm's business could be handled through remote control. Eventually, tractors and other devices might be run by wire (or by wireless, as it were).

Anthropomorphism abounds: runaway tractors are a risk, but crazy runaway tractors? "What we're really scared of is killing someone if it goes nuts," Pocknee said of the robotic tractors.

Likewise, this strange statement needs some explanation: Pocknee can sit in his office and see the position of a 600-foot irrigation system in a nearby field on his computer screen. The system is equipped with a global positioning system to provide its location. A wireless video camera shows how it is operating. Why first thought is "why would an irrigation system move?" and then I realized these are irrigation systems that are rolled over fields.

Of course, this kind of automation helps big agribusiness more than small farmers who may be unable to afford the technology investment upfront on a scale where it makes sense. Labor can be less expensive than technology, as certain countries have taught us. I'd like to also see projects in which open-source-flashed Linksys gateways are hooked together for a few hundred dollars on a 100-acre farm than ever more multi-million dollar research investments that let farms be run from hundreds of miles away. [link via Robert Moskowitz]