It’s hard to know where precision agriculture today would be without global positioning systems or GPS — literally. Practically from the time agriculture gained access to position locating satellites in the 1990s, manufacturers and farmers have found a variety of ways to utilize GPS to make managing field work much easier and accurate.  In other words, GPS has unlocked the potential for precision farming.

Mark Licht, Iowa State University Extension cropping systems specialist, says GPS technology has been one of the most beneficial ag technology developments in the last 10 or 15 years.  “Benefits, such as auto steer, are pretty straightforward and easy to...