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Precision Farming is coming to Farming Simulator: Today, we’re announcing a special project initiated by John Deere and funded by EIT Food, Europe’s leading Food Innovation Initiative. The focus of this project is the implementation of Precision Farming in a public gaming environment. That environment will be, you guessed exactly right, Farming Simulator! The project is set to take place over a span of two years and involves a variety of EU partners.

Lern more here:

https://farming-simulator.com/newsArtic ... ews_id=162

I believe that perception is more built on supporting the little farmer vs the big one. Same as shop locally, and support small business. There are numerous of big operations that strip the land for everything it is worth. Planting the same crop over and over. There are also big farmers that utilizes materials available to them and put nutrients back into the soil. I like the idea of bringing the community towards farming, but you shouldn't gear it towards the big farmers. It should be gear to Farmer. The big guys don't need the same help that the smaller ones do. If you guys just aim this towards the big guys, than you will have misses the mark.

Blog post wrote:Meaning, the player will be able to manage different zones by using variable rate technologies. Sustainability and technical efficiency scores will quantify the result of their actions when using precision farming technology in the game

I’m super excited about this

I don’t know if something get lost in translation, but when I hear “Precision Farming” I am thinking GPS, variable rate application and section control for sprayers and fertilizer spreaders.

If that’s the case, this is huge

Hopefully the features will be for farming simulator 19

To me, Precision Farming is a lot more than just GPS usage and section control. Those are just the very basics.
It is more like obtaining data and using it with right tools to get the best results, economically and environmentally.

There is a large gap in peoples minds when it comes to (modern) farming. I realize this everyday. This can have a huge impact, if done correctly.
For now I can't see a focus on large farmers. But that is the current trend as crop prices are too low for small farms to survive easily. Additionally at least in Germany, farmers facing more and more regulations and have to spend additional money to fulfill them.

The media are not showing good examples. Only the bad ones get hyped. For sure, people get a wrong picture of (modern) farming this way.

So, I'm all way into this. Hope that turns out good and reaches a lot of people to change their minds.

"Precision Farming" is the real life project, not a description of the feature coming to FS. There is no mention or suggestion of GPS in the article, though it is one of many factors in the project. It's only a matter of time before it comes to FS though (probably FS2x), it being a key factor and selling point for most manufacturers in modern farming as well as this initiative.

michaelr wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 2:44 pm in translation, but when I hear “Precision Farming” I am thinking GPS, variable rate application and section control for sprayers and fertilizer spreaders.

It's more about soil management at first, with this being the key line:

[..]the first version of the module will introduce heterogeneous fields with regards to soil types.

Hopefully it's not just a watered down version where sampling or scanning the soil automatically adds another yield increase. There's too much of a fixed yield system in FS and it would be good if it was a decision a player had to make (with in-game suggestions if necessary) rather than the current fixed case of 1) fertilise twice per crop, 2) weed every crop 3) apply lime every three crops. Ideally with slightly (emphasis on "slightly") different soil conditions across maps so every field or area wasn't the same and some aspects might need doing less or more often from year to year. Variation, to a certain degree anyway, is good.

Illinois Farmer wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 2:10 pm It should be gear to Farmer. The big guys don't need the same help that the smaller ones do. If you guys just aim this towards the big guys, than you will have misses the mark.

I agree. In real life small farms are struggling to break even. Big farming estates are better placed and sometimes managing healthy profits, while many smaller farms are often selling at a loss. I won't pretend large scale farmers don't need help, but focus and attention needs to be on every farmer, and it's easy to argue particularly on small and medium ones.

FS itself is already massively swayed towards the big farmer, with much more choice in the "large tractor" category than "small" and "medium", and in the base game there is a huge gap in size and price between the smaller combines to even the medium ones, let alone the big ones.

Hopefully future FS games are more balanced. The popularity of small small maps (eg Minibrunn, Oberkrebach, The West Coast, The Valley The Old Farm, Altenstein and probably GIANTS' new map Erlengrat) shows that small-scale and classic farming is well liked among players

I assume this means we are going to get another Info layer of Soil Types and it will have a yield penalty and to improve the yield you will have to use variable rate seed drills / fertilisers and other precision farming technologies to better optimise yields. I just hope that the soil types will be sensibly applied and not just all over the place like the weed system. I assume this feature will be in the new upcoming Erlengrat map.

Planned as a free game module for Farming Simulator, Precision Farming will be introduced through various new gameplay features over the two-year-lifespan of the project.

May be that also shows how far away the next FS title is.

many are confused a bit by this on what it all means myself included ....

u a farmer?

I'd recommend reading the foilow up blogpost, it explains a bit more.

Yup, the follow up blog helped me understand it. I'd never even heard of it before.
I't going to be fun to see how it's incorporated into the game.

So fields scanned, drones deployed to spray weed patches, drones deployed to fert missed or needed patches? Am I missing the mark? I hope not.

tankieboy wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 12:37 pm So fields scanned, drones deployed to spray weed patches, drones deployed to fert missed or needed patches? Am I missing the mark? I hope not.

You probably are. The follow up blog specifically mentions everything in there is not guaranteed to end up in-game.

For me it looks like a new features that might come into next FS game. There are too much things about precision farming, just
too much to well implement them into FS19. At least what i would like to see are well implemented features.
I am not telling that we would not get something into FS19 as free mod, but i think these changes are not huge, if they
come to FS19.

Hints: GPS, drone flying, soil management (like soil mod?), pesticides, variable fertilizer spreaders and so on...