Technology has a way of getting my attention

I am by no means an engineer but I’m always fascinated by what technology can do.

When I worked in the daily newspapers I started with a typewriter and my copy was given to a typesetter who put my story into a form that could be trimmed and pasted on page that served as the blueprint for getting to the press.

In those days it truly was a “labor of love” to get a story into a newspaper. As a young journalist it was impressive to see how the entire team worked together to get my story into the hands of readers.

Today the process is much different, less labor intensive and quicker to get to the press. Through online and the internet, I can also “publish” a story within minutes after I’m finished with final edits. In 1985, that seemed impossible.

With technology I can see people whose lives have been extended as a result of medical equipment that detects cancer in levels that were impossible several generations ago.

There is no better example of embracing technology than what I have witnessed in farmer and ranching. The ability of seed breeders to make drought resistant crops has led to expansion of dryland corn and soybeans into regions I would have never thought possible.

I visited with a wheat farmer in southeast Colorado who has dryland corn, even in an area where he only averages about 14 to 15 inches of rain a year. To this northwest Kansas native it did not seem possible where the only dryland corn grown was outside the reach of a center pivot or in a few pockets north of U.S. Highway 36 to the Nebraska state line.

Technology has led to the manufacture of planters and drills, heavy enough to plant in no-till and yet can cover many acres a day. A single combine today can cut more than 200 acres of wheat in a day. Thirty years ago, a combine that could cut 100 to 120 acres was considered a large and efficient machine. (I remembered when those combines hit the market place there were those who did not believe a combine header above 24 feet or a corn head over 12 rows would be efficient.)

The excitement of what technology can do, even in a tighter economic climate, should give us a reason to stay optimistic about the farming and ranching industry. Technology can be expensive and it takes a commitment to invest in it. Some technology seems far-fetched, while I could envision larger tractors, combines and planters many years ago, because of the human element, I struggle with seeing how autonomous tractors will be efficient. Yet, I think in a few years they will be a part of production agriculture.

Drones caught my eyes in the middle part of this decade and became a technology integrated into operations in a relatively inexpensive way.

As I look ahead the future will continue to offer opportunities because of innovation and technology.