Times they are changing. Everything seems to be moving in the direction of "smart" technology. While this seems like an annoyance living in a world of folks glued to smartphones and using an app for everything, it also has it's advantages when it comes to the modern farmer.
Smart farming is bringing the farmer what he needs to push his yield and his land's productivity past where it traditionally performs. These days we see combines manipulating calibrations to help achieve less time in the field while saving on fuel costs. This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many different aspects in which the world of agriculture is moving.
One of the many ways is Geolocation data utilizing drones and satellite imagery. This helps the farmer by capturing high quality pictures of their plot of land and helps predict future yields from the current field's biomass(ecology). It will help the farmer with planning and estimating how much he will see be produced from his land. It's highly beneficial and becoming more and more a necessity for most farmers.
As you're probably already aware, GPS is helping turn tractors into driverless machines. They are capable of doing work in the field as if they're being manned by the farmer themselves. Think of it like an airplane on autopilot. This feature is becoming more and more prevalent with plows and sprayers. While it seems somewhat crazy, think of how much time is saved by the farmer not having to man the tractor or hire an extra farm hand to run the machine for hours or days at a time.
Precision farming or Smart Ag is seeing a boom with data collection helping the modern farmer. Using the Internet of things, farmers can help measure different compound levels of liquid manure to provide better mixtures helping the growth of crop. Moisture sensors are another common smart ag proponent, helping the farmer know when crops are in need of water. These things are not limited to crop farming as there are a slew of things helping livestock farmers as well.
Lastly, as you're more than aware, tuning is another technological advantage of precision farming. Tuning (Or Up-Rates) help you access the power your tractor came with from the factory without pushing you into dangerous territory. This means less fuel per acre and less time in the field spraying or tilling. Time is valuable and saving money on fuel is just as important. Calibrations are manipulated to the farmer's specifications, helping achieve what he needs most out of his equipment. Furthermore, tuning can allow your tractor to pull through tough spots in the field. This coupled with the fact that the right tuner can keep your OEM specs in mind, which ensures your tractor will perform at it's optimal level, but will keep your tractor safe from harm.
As you can see the world is moving forward with technology and we are seeing the agriculture community move with this wave just as well. It is becoming more and more beneficial as it becomes more efficient in many ways. It's progressing the farmer beyond their expertise knowledge and helping provide a better yield while is keeping a farmers costs low on things such as factory up-rates.
While we all rebuke at the amount of technology the modern world throws at us, it's time to embrace what is actually going to help the farming community progress their business with these new measures. It can seem like overkill, but it's time to take the next step and help push your field and machinery to the next level.