VOA标准英语2012--Farming by GPS Saves Money, Environment

 Farming by GPS Saves Money, Environment

Mixing tradition with technology

On a weedy patch of land an hour and half from Washington, D.C., farmer Brad Eustace is tilling razor-straight lines with a GPS-guided tractor. With the computer in control, he barely has to steer¹.

“You can do a straight line a whole lot easier,” he says.

The GPS computer receives signals from earth-orbiting satellites to keep track of where his tractor is and where it has gone. Hoses deliver precise amounts of fertilizer right into the grooves³ that the tiller cuts.

That process prepares the field for when farmer Jimmy Messick comes back days, or even weeks later, with a GPS-guided corn planter… 

"The seed goes right on top of this row. This tilled row," Messick says. "The corn planter will come back, and it will be putting the seeds exactly on top of these tilled strips that the machine previously⁴ has put the fertilizer in.”

Saving money

Placing seed and fertilizer together with centimeter precision means fewer loads of fertilizer go on the fields. 

“You’re able to use less," Messick says. "Of course, you’re saving money. And you get the same performance out of the crop.”

Messick has cut amounts of one fertilizer ingredient in half. On a 600-hectare farm, he says that saves him tens of thousands of dollars. 

And that’s not all he’s saving. Nutrients⁵ from farm fertilizers are a leading cause of water pollution. 

Environmentally friendly

“If we get better at applying only what’s needed, where they’re needed, then that’s less nutrients that can move off and get into water systems and watersheds,” says Virginia Tech University farming expert Tim Mize.

Jimmy Messick also uses GPS when he sprays weed killer⁶. Before, he says, it was easier to miss spots or overlap⁷. 

“You weren’t sure what had been done, and what hadn’t been done," he says. "With this system, you come back next week, next month, and you know what you sprayed and what you didn’t spray.”

GPS technology is guiding large-scale farm equipment across the country and some harvesters also monitor how much crop is produced in each part of a field.

“You get an idea of where the productive areas of the field are," says Virginia's Tech's Mize, "where the less productive areas are, and you fertilize² accordingly.”

With the price of fertilizers and fuel going up, along with the global demand for food, Mize says the name of the game today is getting the most crop with the least resources.

“Anytime you can reduce inputs⁸ and increase your bottom line, that’s technology that everybody wants.”

It’s hands-free technology that’s saving money and the environment.

1 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

2 fertilize   

v.使受精，施肥于，使肥沃

参考例句：

• Fertilizer is a substance put on land to fertilize it.肥料是施在地里使之肥沃的物质。
• Reading will fertilize his vocabulary.阅读会丰富他的词汇。

3 grooves   

n.沟( groove的名词复数 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏v.沟( groove的第三人称单数 )；槽；老一套；（某种）音乐节奏

参考例句：

• Wheels leave grooves in a dirt road. 车轮在泥路上留下了凹痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sliding doors move in grooves. 滑动门在槽沟中移动。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

5 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

7 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

8 inputs   

n.输入( input的名词复数 )；投入；输入端；输入的数据v.把…输入电脑( input的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Uncheck the inputs checked for optimization in the previous stage. 不测试那些已经测试过的优化了的以前步骤的inputs.（变量参数）。 来自互联网
• Just in case, save in a file the inputs obtained at the previous stage. 以防万一，保存以前步骤获得的inputs（变量参数值）到一个文件中去。 来自互联网