Solar storm crashes GPS systems used by some US farmers, stalling planting

In an undated photo from Tiffany Graham, an aurora over a tractor at O’Connor Family Farms near Blooming Prairie, Minnesota. The solar storm over the weekend interfered with navigational systems used in tractors and other farming equipment, leaving some farmers temporarily unable to plant their crops. — Tiffany Graham via The New York Times

The powerful geomagnetic storm that cast the northern lights’ vivid colours across the Northern Hemisphere over the weekend also caused some navigational systems in tractors and other farming equipment to break down at the height of planting season, suppliers and farmers said.

Many farmers have come to rely on the equipment, which uses GPS and other navigational technology and helps them to plant more efficiently and precisely by keeping rows straight and avoiding gaps or overlap. But over the weekend, some of those operations in the Midwest, as well as in other parts of the United States and Canada, temporarily ground to a halt.