MONDAY 30 JUNE 2014 •
[email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 inside Searching CAMPUS • Winners of Senior sun for Design Contest storms announced P | 4 P | 6 MARKETPLACE • Slew of Ramadan events at Sharq Village and Spa The farm on Maryland’s eastern P | 5 shore is part of a growing “precision agriculture” movement FITNESS that uses high-tech tools to • Fitness programme replace seat-of-the-pants for people with farming. developmental disabilities P | 7 WHEELS • McLaren seeks do-over with $265,000 650S P | 11 TECHNOLOGY • Text-messaging isn’t actually ruining young PRECISION people’s grammar P | 12 FARMING IS LEARN ARABIC • Learn commonly used Arabic words HERE TO STAY and their meanings P | 13 2 PLUS | MONDAY 30 JUNE 2014 COVER STORY With new tech tools, precision farming gains traction BY ROB LEVER field to cut irrigation costs. At Little Bohemia Creek, the tractor’s sensors gauge the health T Little Bohemia Creek Farm of various segments of a field to deliver fer- in Warwick, United States, tilizer and other chemicals more efficiently, the tractor pretty much which has an environmental benefit. drives itself, weaving through “This technology allows for more intricate rows of corn using GPS tech- data collection to make decisions,” says Rich nology as it injects carefully Wildman of the agricultural consulting firm Adosed amounts of fertilizer. Farm employee Agrinetix, which provides technology advice Andrew Isaacson sits in the cab — his main at the farm. job is to monitor computer screens that con- This permits the farmer to “do more ferti- trol the vehicle and sprayer.