Is agricultural navigation worth it on small farms?

Just a few years ago, precision farming was associated solely with huge farms spanning hundreds of hectares. Today, the situation is completely different. Technology is moving forward, and alternative options are appearing on the market that don’t cost tens of thousands. Our NanoSteer navigation system is designed for farms of any field size.

Many farmers wonder if navigation will improve field efficiency and whether it’s a good investment. The answer depends on many factors, but even a few percent improvement over several years makes a difference.

Where do we lose money when driving manually?

Every farmer, when doing fieldwork, tries to make passes as precise as possible. However, this is not always possible considering the terrain or even the operator’s fatigue after a few hours.

When driving manually, you might encounter:

• overlaps during sowing or fertilizing
• uneven use of the machine's width
• extra passes
• higher fuel consumption

These mistakes might seem minor, but considering fieldwork during the season, the differences start to show.

How much can you gain from GPS navigation?

One of the biggest advantages of automatic guidance is reducing overlaps and misses. With manual driving, the operator often leaves a safety margin to avoid unworked parts of the field. Depending on the conditions and the width of the machine, overlaps can be around 5-10% of the working area.

Navigation allows you to drive the tractor along a precisely determined line, so every pass is calculated with maximum accuracy.

Fuel and Work Time Savings

Every extra pass means:

• more liters of fuel burned
• more tractor hours worked
• more wear and tear on equipment

With precise guidance, unnecessary passes and corrections can be reduced. In practice, this can mean about 5-10% savings in the farmer's time and work.

For a larger farm, this translates to much higher costs, so the difference becomes noticeable.

Reduced fertilizer losses

When fertilizing or spraying, the accuracy of the passes is very important because of material usage. Overlaps cause certain parts of the field to get a double dose of the product, while skips mean that some areas might not be properly treated.

Even a small reduction in losses at current market prices can significantly affect monthly expenses.

 

Example of a 40-hectare farm

Let's take a farm of about 40 hectares as an example, where basic work is done:

• cultivation
• sowing
• fertilizing
• spraying

If, during each pass, it is possible to reduce even a few percent of losses caused by overlaps and unnecessary passes, over the course of a year this results in:

• lower fuel and fertilizer consumption
• fewer work hours
• more timely performance of treatments

That's why even on an average farm, buying agricultural navigation really makes a big difference and is an investment for several years.

Do you need to have a new tractor?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions, and the answer is no. Many farmers think that GPS navigation only works in modern machines. In reality, the PWL NanoSteer system works on any tractor with power steering. You don’t need to buy a new tractor to install navigation.

Summary

Agricultural navigation is no longer used only on large farms. For farmers with 20-50 hectares, it can be a tool that helps reduce costs, translating into annual savings.

A few percent on each hectare gives us a lot of benefits, affecting the operator's ongoing work. The automatic guidance system becomes a practical investment, not just an extra piece of farm equipment.