Giants Software have announced that Precision Farming is coming to Farming Simulator in as part of a special project initiated by John Deere and funded by EIT Food, Europe’s leading Food Innovation Initiative.
The focus of the project is implementation of Precision Farming practices in “a public gaming environment”, that environment will be, you guessed exactly right, Farming Simulator. The project is set to take place over a span of two years and involves a variety of EU partners. Giants Software have written a great post explaining in more detail about what Precision Farming/ Smart Farming is on the Farming Simulator 19 website.
About The Project
The goal of the Precision Farming Project is to educate the public about modern and sustainable agriculture as public knowledge about farming is in decline so EIT Food, together with John Deere and other partners, is trying to change the public image of farming by increasing transparency and trust in modern agriculture.
There is a wide spread assumption that it’s only possible for small family owned farms to produce high quality and organic crops, so the project aims to highlight modern technology known as Precision Farming, also known as Precision Agriculture or Smart Farming. This technology allows big farms to produce high quality goods while being environment-friendly, too.
This is where EIT Food and John Deere’s partnership with GIANTS Software is comes into play they want to introduce modern precision farming technologies to Farming Simulator to change public perception and raise awareness around sustainable farming.
Precision Farming Coming to Farming Simulator
Precision Farming is planned as a free game module for Farming Simulator and will be introduced through various new game play features over the two-year-lifespan of the project. While the exact course of the development of the final module is yet to be determined together with the University of Hohenheim (Germany) and University of Reading (Great Britain), Giants Software have said the first version of the module will introduce heterogeneous fields with regards to soil types.
This means players will be able to manage different zones using variable rate technologies. Sustainability and technical efficiency scores will quantify the result of their actions when using precision farming technology in the game. Giants say “More features are planned to follow after precise, academic and scientific evaluation by the involved parties.” so it will be really interesting to see where they take this project next.
I’d love to hear what you think about this project and where it could take the game, it’s certainly interesting to see a project focused on real modern farming practices as a free educational addition to the game.
Learn More
Farming Simulator Game Hub
EIT Food Website – https://www.eitfood.eu/
Giants Software Website – https://giants-software.com/news.php
John Deere Website – https://www.deere.com/en/
