The flare he saw lasted five minutes. The effects lasted for two days. Telegraph systems failed so spectacularly that operators got electrical shocks from their machines. Paper caught fire, noted University of Mississippi electrical engineering professor David Wallace in a 2022 article from The Conversation.

The massive solar storm was named the Carrington Event, after the astronomer who observed the flare.

Why it matters: Computers have become key tools in the tractor cab. Geomagnetic interference starting May 10 affected many of those systems during one of the busiest farm seasons of the year.

Earlier this month, another solar storm washed over Earth. No telegraph operators were harmed, but farmers across North America were frustrated with suddenly misbehaving GPS systems. Autosteer and precision ag systems refused to work as advertised.

Wawanesa farmer Simon Ellis had begun seeding a new field May 10 when he realized his GPS wasn’t working correctly.

“Initially there were large misses or large overlap, up to half the air seeder width,” he said. “That was with the autosteer engaged.”

“At times it would start the pass correctly then slowly start missing until (the error) was half of the machine width. Then it would go back the other way.”

Ellis took to social media with the problem and soon realized he wasn’t the only one affected. Commiserating responses to his post included fellow farmers in southwestern Manitoba, as well as farmers across the Prairies in Swift Current, Sask., and as far south as Kansas in the U.S.

Ellis was using WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) GPS, but other producers noted issues with their RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) systems.

In the U.S., LandMark Implement, a John Deere dealer with locations across the Midwest, sent notifications to customers advising them that the accuracy of RTK, SF2 and SF3 guidance systems was compromised.

“The storm has affected all brands of GPS, not solely John Deere,” it said in a May 11 statement.
Satellite internet provider Starlink also reported “degraded service” on May 11, Reuters reported.

After hearing that the issue was widespread and likely caused by solar activity, Ellis turned off his high-tech guidance system and spent the rest of his Friday seeding “the old-fashioned way,” he said.

What is a solar storm?

To understand solar storms, Nikhil Arora, a post-doctorate student researching astronomy and astrophysics at Queen’s University in Ontario, suggests people think of the sun as a pot of soup. Once that liquid boils, bubbles rise to the surface and pop. Sometimes they splatter soup into the air.

“That’s exactly what’s happening in the sun as well,” Arora said. “The sun is actually bringing material from the centre all the way to the surface.”

When that material bubbles out from the centre and pops, material is flung out in a solar storm. The impact to Earth depends on whether that “splatter” is in the direction of our planet.

Here, Arora said, the soup analogy breaks down. Rather than the straight trajectory of liquid splattering out of a pot, solar material ejects along the magnetic field of the sun. Scientists can use what they know about those magnetic fields to predict how the “splatter” will be flung.

Scientists knew days in advance that there would be a solar storm or coronal mass ejection. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a press release May 9 warning that a series of solar flares and coronal mass ejections had begun the day before.

The sun’s “boiling” activity fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. It spends about five and a half years in a state of high activity, a window called the solar maxima. The sun is currently reaching that peak.

Following the solar maxima, there is an equal period of waning activity, called a solar minima.

Why GPS?

Magnetic fields interact with electronics and can cause interference. For many non-farmers, the storm’s only results were several nights of vivid, multi-coloured aurora borealis seen as far south as Florida.

Those lights were the result of charged particles from the sun streaming through Earth’s atmosphere and interacting with atmospheric gases, Arora explained. Green lights indicated those particles encountered nitrogen, while pink lights denoted an interaction with oxygen.

In the upper atmosphere, the fast-moving charged particles created turbulence for satellites, said Oleksandr Shvets, delivery manager with EOS SAT, a satellite service used for agricultural data gathering and analysis.

Shvets said they didn’t experience any interruptions to their service or to their crop monitoring tool, but did notice minuscule deviations in the speed and course of their satellite.

Since the solar cycle is relatively predictable, it’s considered when calculating a satellite’s lifecycle and orbit, Shvets said. Satellite manufacturers also use shielding to protect electronics from solar radiation or temperature.

GPS satellites are designed for both military and civilian applications and are mostly likely quite robust in design, Shvets said.

End users like farmers don’t usually need such contingencies on their ground-based equipment, he noted. The atmosphere is generally protection enough. He suggested, the interference was “most probably” taking place on land-based equipment, not the actual satellites.

Shields up?

If, like Ellis, farmers switched off their GPS and continued seeding, the storm may have few lingering effects, though LandMark Implement warned its clients that, for the rest of the season, their rows might not line up with AutoPath lines.

Still, some experts argue for more preparation, given the increasing role of technology like GPS in farming and other industries.

“It is only a matter of time before the Earth is hit by another big geomagnetic storm,” Wallace wrote in an updated version of his article May 13.

A storm the size of the Carrington Event, which scientists estimate could occur once every 500 years, could knock out electrical grids, internet and radio signals. It could damage satellites, including GPS, which could hamper anything from road navigation to national defence, Wallace said.

“I believe it is critical to continue researching ways to protect electrical systems against the effects of geomagnetic storms. For example, by installing devices that can shield vulnerable equipment like transformers and by developing strategies for adjusting grid loads when solar storms are about to hit.

“In short, it’s important to work now to minimize the disruptions from the next Carrington Event.”

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LightSquared, a U.S. broadband company, plans to introduce a new network into the American marketplace later this year, but is currently battling opponents who are concerned the service will interrupt GPS satellites. On June 23, LightSquared executives faced off in Washington against high-level officials from several state departments, including Transportation and Defence.

“LightSquared technology is going to come from satellite as well. These are going to be two satellites near each other, as near as you can be in space and they’re going to have not the exact same technology or frequency, but close enough that it worries people,” said Hart Macklin, vice-president of technology for IPQUBE, a Prairie-based high-tech television company.

“Remember how with television, before we had cable, you might see a little bit of Channel 2 and Channel 3 mixed together? This is what we are talking about.”

In response to the widespread concerns, LightSquared unveiled a plan to use a different frequency farther away from that used by GPS. However, many fear it will not be enough to entirely prevent interruptions.

“They haven’t tested it yet because putting up a satellite and getting it wrong can cost you hundreds of millions of dollars. But they’re saying there’s a danger that when LightSquared turns the lights on up there, GPS technology is going to have a problem. And if that happens, and it’s too late to fix it, then what?” said Macklin.

LightSquared isn’t making any moves on Canada – yet. And until it does, Dr. Gerard Lachappelle, a geomatics engineering professor at the University of Calgary, says GPS service in Canada should remain unaffected.

CANADA UNAFFECTED?

“It is indeed a very big issue and they have a lot of concerns because this would affect GPS in a lot of places in the U.S.,” he said. However, bringing the LightSquared system into Canada would require approval from Industry Canada and it may not be allowed.

“So a problem in the U.S. would not necessarily affect Canada,” said Lachappelle.

GPS spurred the advancement of precision farming. The technology enables producers to selectively target very precise targets on a field. Improved control over the application of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers have helped to reduce expenses, increase yield and have improved environmental stewardship.

Michael Bevans, project engineer with the Alberta Agricultural Technology Centre, says the average farmer has already invested between $30,000 and $40,000 into GPS technology.

“GPS uptake by farmers is a real trend. There’s no doubt this is a very real concern,” he said.

The U.S. military created GPS, launching the first GPS satellite in 1978. By 1995, an additional 23 satellites were added to the system, which orbit around the Earth once every 12 hours, 12 miles from the surface of the planet. The satellites send radio signals to Earth with their precise location at any given time. Those signals are read by GPS receivers on the Earth’s surface, and the receivers can then analyze the data from several different satellites, enabling the receivers to determine their own precise location, elevation and speed.

The private sector wasn’t able to access the technology until 2000, when the U.S. military stopped intentionally camouflaging the signals.

Airplanes now rely on GPS, and the service has become nearly equally important in all methods of commercial transportation. The agriculture industry rapidly saw the potential of GPS and it has seen rapid uptake, especially since the advent of high-clearance sprayers.

“That was a real necessity when they came in. Previously, people had used foam markers and paper droppers and things like that trying to mark the spray limits,” said Les Hill of the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute.

America’s Federal Communications Commission is responsible for ultimately giving LightSquared a green light and has asked the company to compile a report on how its technology might go forward without affecting GPS. A decision is due June 30.

“I am personally convinced that it will not go through because the U.S. military is starting to weigh in heavily on this and that will be a big factor,” Lachappelle said. “And frankly, if this were to affect GPS, it’s the farming community, construction, the geomatics community – it’s huge.”

———

“Frankly,ifthisweretoaffectGPS,it’s thefarmingcommunity,construction,the geomaticscommunity–it’shuge.”

– DR. GERARD LACHAPPELLE, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

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“By simply tapping open our App on your iPhone screen and clicking the “request for assistance” button, we will quickly receive your request for service and your location through GPS technology,” says Frank Fotia, vice-president of insurance, automotive, and corporate affairs for CAA.

The Canadian Automobile Association Roadside App can be downloaded for free on the iTunes App Store.

The CAA Roadside App automatically submits the member’s number to the CAA/AAA roadside assistance team. It also allows members to tailor their assistance requests to provide a specific address, to provide additional information about their location, to identify special characteristics or features of their vehicle, or any other circumstance that our drivers can take into account before they arrive.

Motorists also have the option of using the App to call CAA directly.

The App was co-developed with the American Automobile Association (AAA), so it supports both CAA and AAA members who require assistance anywhere in Canada or the United States.

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“The Chapman family exemplifi es the qualities recognized by this annual award, established in 1966 to profile the diversity of primary agriculture in Manitoba as well as the traditional values of farm families that have contributed to the success and resilience of Prairie agriculture and the rural way of life,” said Garth Rogerson, CEO of the RREA.

“They are role models for modern farm family operations,” said Bob Roehle, president of the RREA. “The Chapmans embrace new ideas, but live by old-fashioned values, and mix business savvy with environmentally conscious farming practices.”

Chapman Bros. Farms, incorporated in 1967, was named for brothers George and Russell, who took over operations from their father. Now that they have retired, the farm is run by George’s sons Darren and Parry and Russell’s son Robert, his son-in-law Jeff Elliott and grandson Justin. The farm also employs three full-time and up to five seasonal staff.

What began in 1944 as a 600-acre farm has grown to 17,700 acres: 11,350 owned and 6,350 rented. The cropping mix for 2010 includes 5,250 acres of Hard Red Spring wheat, 4,950 acres of canola, 920 acres of malting barley, 620 acres of peas, 480 acres of oats, 320 acres of soybeans, and 1,800 acres of hay.

The farm also maintains a herd of 500-plus beef cows. Forage production is a major enterprise, and the Chapmans sell hay across Canada and in several U. S. states. They are involved in several hay-marketing projects and have participated in the Forage Symposium, the Provincial Hay Competition, the World Dairy Expo trade fair and a recent trip to the horse states of Florida and Kentucky. They are also active with the Manitoba Forage Council.

Despite the scale of its operations, Chapman Bros. maintains a small-farm atmosphere, largely due to the coffee room. This meeting space has long been the hub for doing business and growing a strong team.

The Chapman enterprise combines cutting-edge practices with the pioneering attributes of their ancestor George Chapman, who homesteaded a quarter section in the Plumas district in 1890. They use GPS technology in their operations and have six units with auto-steer. The Chapmans find it particularly useful in preventing misses and overlaps when cutting hay, seeding, swathing, crop spraying and spreading fertilizer.

The farm was converted to zero till in 2004, and this practice has helped their crops get through dry spells. Other benefi ts include reduced wear and tear on equipment, reduced labour, and protection of the soil.

Throughout its long farming history, each generation of the Chapman family has helped the next generation get started, and that tradition continues to this day.

Their ability to work as a team and pool their talents and resources is one of the reasons for their continuing success. They also balance their hard work by volunteering with community organizations and participating in recreational activities and hobbies.

The Chapmans were nominated by the Manitoba Forage Council Inc.

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Sometimes columnists allude to the problems that farmers need to address to stay in the game, but seldom is there serious discussion of the issue of sustainability in agriculture.

There is a story told of a lifesaving mission being set up on a particularly dangerous stretch of river – the objective being to rescue people whose boats capsized in the turbulent water. One man, on observing the construction of the rescue station, remarked that perhaps the mission was misguided. What was more important was finding out why people were falling in in the first place.

Some suggest AgriStability is not doing enough. Cattle farmers, they say for example, are facing their fourth negative year in a row and the federal government needs to extend the farm safety net beyond the three years currently covered. But why should the government fund a business that continues year after year in negative territory? Perhaps not falling in is more important than getting pulled out.

How many negative years do we accept before we realize that the problem is not with cattle prices, but with an unsustainable production paradigm?

In my view Prairie agriculture is in need of a much more fundamental shift in thinking – something more innovative than the GPS technology that eliminates overlap on seed and spray and merely requires a driver to turn the tractor at the end of the field; something more efficient than 3,000 sows under a single roof.

For the last two decades, perhaps much longer, there has been a certain percentage of farmers who have been presumably dissatisfied with the results of “conventional” farming. They have gone into a wide variety of alternative agriculture, whether as a sideline or their entire farm operation.

In my mind, these people should be applauded for recognizing that something was wrong with the system. However, what they failed to recognize was that the conventional end product was not the problem. The alternative agricultural pursuits were radical (ostriches, pigeons, etc.) not in the methods of production.

So they faced the problem of selling a radically different product coupled together with the costs of conventional farming.

So, if what is wrong with agriculture is high fuel prices, soaring fertilizer costs, and the capital cost of an enormous land base and the accompanying machinery, then would it not make sense to address these issues? Farmers have little effect on commodity prices and none on the weather. But they certainly have everything to do with how they choose to farm. Popular media notwithstanding there is more than one way to farm.

And it has almost nothing to do with what you produce.

Perhaps this line of reasoning has got you thinking of the old ways, or more likely that this young buck probably has not got a clue about the “good ol’ days.” Consider that today’s mega horsepower tractors are basically multiplication of size from the first tractors that replaced horses on Prairie farms. And further to that, horses themselves replaced the oxen that were used by many western homesteaders. So which old days are you thinking of: early tractor, horses, oxen, or hand powered? More to the point, what is backward about a method of production that is sustainable, and addresses the issues of fuel, fertilizer, and debt?

What advantage does the relatively small mixed farm and animal power have over the large farm and petroleum power?

The first advantage is that the energy source can be supplied from the farm. Secondly, the byproduct, manure, is valuable fertilizer – a nearly complete energy cycle. And thirdly, a much lower cost of production in terms of energy requires a much smaller land base, requiring smaller equipment which makes farming possible for a much wider range of people.

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz once made the statement, “Old MacDonald’s farm doesn’t exist anymore,” in his defence of modifying the government farm program. If what he meant was small mixed farming doesn’t exist anymore, then perhaps he should tour the Old Order Mennonite areas next time he is down to southern Ontario.

But then again, perhaps the minister in charge of the farm rescue mission hasn’t had the opportunity to come to the aid of Old MacDonald, and that’s not such a bad thing is it?

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