- A severe geomagnetic storm hit the northern US.
- The storm caused auroras — and apparently disrupted precision farming systems, a John Deere dealership said.
One of the strongest solar storms in decades hit Earth this past weekend, sending stunning auroras far from the poles.
But for some farmers, the geomagnetic storm was more of a headache.
Geomagnetic storms are capable of disrupting electronics on satellites and causing communication blackouts. These storms can also impact power grids, causing voltage control problems that can trigger outages.
In this weekend's solar storm, charged particles disrupted GPS and precision farming systems, according to a John Deere dealership and a report in 404 Media.
Landmark Implement, a John Deere dealer in Kansas and Nebraska, wrote in an update that some GPS system networks were being affected by the storm. This caused connection and accuracy issues with its real-time kinematic systems, which use GPS and ground-based data to help farmers plant crops and spray fertilizer with pinpoint accuracy.
Landmark Implement posted updates throughout the weekend, with the most recent one on Sunday warning farmers that some systems were "extremely compromised." The updates also said pass-to-pass accuracy is "extremely degraded."
While the dealership said the situation was "definitely not ideal," it also said it isn't expected to create any large overlaps or skips.
"We do believe this historic event and it isn't something that we are going to have to continue to battle frequently," one update said, adding, "The storm has affected all brands of GPS, not solely John Deere."
The breakdown caused many farmers to halt planting operations, according to the report from 404 Media.
John Deere has been a leading name in precision farming as it pioneered self-driving tractors.
High-tech farming equipment has become a growing part of modern agriculture. Farmers have begun using automated tractors to plant crops so that the spacing is perfect, maximizing the yield of their crops.
404 Media reported that errors with planting or harvesting due to the solar storm could cause automatic equipment to damage crops in the future.
John Deere and Landmark Implement did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.