Technology transforms traditional family farming

Farms today are rooted in tradition, with many working hard to keep generational operations alive. But technology has become essential to soil, seed and watering processes.

Farmers are balancing two eras—remembering the iron and instinct of the past while embracing how technology is reshaping successful farming.

Soda Springs farmer Dan Lakey describes his experience as two different farming careers. Growing up on the Lakey Farm in the 1980s and 1990s, he spent countless hours during his teenage years pulling a cultivator behind a 300-horsepower tractor.

“I didn’t enjoy it much because all I knew was the hard work,” he said.

After college and time in the corporate world, Lakey returned to the family farm and found how drastically equipment and the industry had changed.

Larger planters and 600-horsepower tractors have revolutionized productivity and efficiency. What once took a full crew a week now takes two people a single day.

GPS-guided tractors and combines with auto-steer capabilities have transformed harvest into a less dreaded time of year.

“There used to be pride in the ability to drive a straight line,” Lakey said. “But auto-steer lets us take full swaths, reduce errors and drops the stress levels tremendously.”

Even Lakey’s father quickly felt the difference. Planting and harvest season now comes with significantly less fatigue, more accuracy and more acres covered each day.