Farms today are rooted in tradition, with many working hard to keep generational operations alive. But technology has become essential to soil, seed and watering processes. Farmers are balancing two eras—remembering the iron and instinct of the past while embracing how technology is reshaping successful farming. Soda Springs farmer Dan Lakey describes his experience as two different farming careers. Growing up on the Lakey Farm in the 1980s and 1990s, he spent countless hours during his teenage years pulling a cultivator behind a 300-horsepower tractor. “I didn’t enjoy it much because all I knew was the hard work,” he said. After college and time in the corporate world, Lakey returned to the family farm and found how drastically equipment and the industry had changed. Larger planters and 600-horsepower tractors have revolutionized productivity and efficiency. What once took a full crew a week now takes two people a single day. GPS-guided tractors and combines with auto-steer capa
Farms today are rooted in tradition, with many working hard to keep generational operations alive. But technology has become essential to soil, seed and watering processes. Farmers are balancing two eras—remembering the iron and instinct of the past while embracing how technology is reshaping successful farming. Soda Springs farmer Dan Lakey describes his experience as two different farming careers. Growing up on the Lakey Farm in the 1980s and 1990s, he spent countless hours during his teenage years pulling a cultivator behind a 300-horsepower tractor. “I didn’t enjoy it much because all I knew was the hard work,” he said. After college and time in the corporate world, Lakey returned to the family farm and found how drastically equipment and the industry had changed. Larger planters and 600-horsepower tractors have revolutionized productivity and efficiency. What once took a full crew a week now takes two people a single day. GPS-guided tractors and combines with auto-steer capa