Agricultural and Energetic Issues prove positive for GNSS
As Inside GNSS reports, the increase in the price of commodities, including not only oil and natural gas, but also corn and wheat, is proving beneficial to GNSS services and products.
GNSS products used to guide and control equipment are in heavy demand as are real-time differential correction services, particularly those using global satellite-based systems, explains Inside GNSS editor Glen Gibbons.
If you take a closer look, the recent increase in the price of corn is not really about food, but its growing use as a source for bio-fuels. Corn, like other crops such as wheat and soy are grown on large plots of land. This is the connection with GPS-aided site-specific farming.
On the other front, the seemingly endless increase in the price of oil has induced most petroleum companies to undertake new exploration activities, even aiming at formerly off-limits ecological sanctuaries.
As Gibbon’s article clearly points out, the very shortage in petroleum-based products is boosting demand for GNSS-aided extraction, while exploration for oil and natural gas is driving up farmers’ costs for fuel, fertilizer, and pesticides.
Regulation also is increasing, requiring growers to maintain accurate records of the types of chemicals used, as well as where and when they were applied.
These and other factors have created a perfect conjuncture for GNSS products and service providers on the marketplace.
