By RODNEY D. BOAM
Citizen editor
Mobile communication devices or smart phones are becoming a real asset for farmers across the country.
Technology has come a long way from the day when a guy sat on a tractor seat pulling a plow with nothing but blue skies above and the air around him to keep him cool.
Matt Johnson, a Valley Implement service technician, uses a lap-top computer to check the systems of a SDX 450 Case 4-wheel-drive tractor with a ballpark price tag of $450K.
It sounds like science fiction, but today a farmer can be sitting in the cab of his heated or cooled, satellite-guided tractor and be checking a weather forecast, markets, fertilizer applications or communication with a supplier while the tractor guides itself with super precision.
“Although phone apps might be popular in other parts of the country, the mountains and valleys in Idaho make it difficult to use in this area,” said Fred Titensor, general manager of Valley Implement. But still there are some advantages to understand what a mobile smart phone can do.
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