David Wulfkuhle, who works on the family farm west of Lawrence, explains some of the advantages of high-tech gadgets like GPS to help make farming more profitable.

Because of Computer, GPS and other technologies, instant color map printouts tell the Wulfkuhles which sections of a field are producing well and which aren't.

When Lloyd Wulfkuhle started farming in 1959, he never dreamed that nearly 50 years later he would have tractors, combines and sprayers that can almost drive themselves.

Yet that is exactly what has happened.

Moreover, thanks to computers, GPS and other technologies, instant color map printouts tell Wulfkuhle which sections of a field are producing well and which are producing poorly. He knows right after finishing a field how much seed was planted in those sections and which brand of seed was used.

“It seems impossible. It just blows your mind about how far we’ve gone,” said Wulfkuhle, a western Douglas County farmer and owner of Lone Pine Ag-Services Inc. His family business farms and sprays fertilizer on many area farms in Douglas and Shawnee counties.

Some of the technology has been around for a few years, but the equipment and the computer programs that go with them are continually updated and improved.

Take, for instance, the GPS light bar guidance system. Hook it up to whatever farm machine you are using and it will keep it moving in a straight line. After driving the machine around a field the first time and punching in certain coordinates, the computer takes over. It will take the machine down to the end of a row.

“That thing will drive the straightest line you’ve ever seen,” Wulfkuhle said.

Only at the end of the row will the farmer have to take over the steering just long enough to turn it around and head it back in the other direction.

Depending on the technology being used and how new it is, overlap on that row is reduced to a few inches. The amount of overlap is especially critical to planting and spraying fertilizer. The less overlap the less waste of seeds and fertilizer, farmers say. Some newer equipment will automatically shut off the spraying while the machine is turned around.

And that saves money, especially when fertilizer costs from $600 to $800 per ton, Wulfkuhle said.

“It relieves a lot of stress on the driver because you don’t have to continually look back and make sure you are staying on the right path,” Wulfkuhle said.

GPS receivers, yield monitors, keypads and display monitors are fastened onto a metal frame placed in the cab of a farm machine. Updated programs for the equipment can be downloaded from satellites. The devices can be moved from one machine to another. Total costs for purchasing all of the equipment at once range up to $23,000. New machines (tractors, combines, sprayers) can be ordered with the additional equipment already on them.

“It pays for itself,” said Wulfkuhle’s son, David Wulfkuhle. “It paid for itself in a year or two.”

The high-tech equipment continues to catch on with farmers, said Bill Wood, agricultural extension agent with the K-State Research & Extension in Douglas County.

“I keep talking to farmers more and more who are buying these things,” he said.

Those farmers aren’t just the younger, computer-literate farmers, either, said Aaron Miller, agriculture management solutions specialist for five Heritage Tractor businesses, including one in Baldwin City.

“There are a lot of older farmers who are adopting this technology,” Miller said. “Once they see it in action on the fields, it is an easy sell. It’s very easy to operate and the benefits are instant.”

The farm technology continues to improve. John Deere, which is sold by Heritage, is now introducing a product that will not only guide a farm machine down a row but will also turn it around without the driver’s help, Miller said. Someone is still needed in the cab, however, to monitor the equipment.

“You’ve still got to have someone in there to start it and stop it,” Miller said.