"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
