College Buys State-of-the-Art Tractor

There’s a new addition about to prowl around Cal Poly Pomona’s fields and pastures.

No, it’s not a horse or other animal.

The Huntley College of Agriculture bought a new, state-of-the art, 145-horsepower John Deere tractor, which was delivered in January. The tractor is the first at Cal Poly Pomona to be equipped with a global positioning system (GPS), which will enable it to plant crops more precisely.

“You can program how wide you want your rows to be for planting. The tractor lines itself up and drives,” says Dave Matias, the college’s farm supervisor. “This will allow us to maximize the amount of planting surface and increase our crop yields.”

In addition, workers can apply pesticides and fertilizers more precisely with the GPS, reducing the risk of giving crops too much or too little, he says.

It’s just one of the ways modern farmers can use technology to increase crop productivity.

With GPS, farmers can now map fields and identity areas that aren’t as productive for analysis, Matias says. If a section requires more fertilizer, the tractor’s on-board computers can remember that area and calculate how much more fertilizer it needs, he says.

The Huntley College of Agriculture has 27 other tractors, some dating back from the 1950s. Workers use the tractors at the W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center, the AGRIscapes, the Beef Unit and Spadra Farm to plow fields, plant crops, haul irrigation pipe, create windrows of hay, and pick up bales.

The college is trying to update its fleet of tractors in keeping with air quality standards. Although diesel powered, the new tractor meets Tier 4 federal regulations for reduced particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions. 

In addition to GPS, automation, and on-board computers, the tractor is also remotely accessible by John Deere service technicians who can help diagnose any problems without having to travel out to campus.