High-tech tractors have been linked to powerline damage in South Australia. 

South Australia's electricity distributor, SA Power Networks, says it has become “exasperated” by frequent incidents of farmers hitting powerlines and electricity poles, with 13 incidents recorded this season already.

Technological innovations in recent years are allowing farmers to use GPS to accurately navigate to specific locations in the field for harvesting, or to collect soil samples or monitor crop conditions. This type of data collection combined with GPS is allowing a new age of accurate positioning to map pest, insect, and weed infestations in the field.

With self-driving tractors on the way soon, farming is rapidly becoming almost unrecognisable from the techniques of the last century. 

However, issues are emerging with this rapid rise in techno-farming. 

SA Power Networks’ head of corporate affairs, Paul Roberts, says “a clear problem is that farmers are using GPS to guide farm machinery but not programming electricity infrastructure into the GPS”. 

“Many farmers are getting it right, but the number and type of incidents occurring this year is very disturbing. People would be surprised by the incidents that occur – in broad daylight a tractor runs straight up the middle of a Stobie pole. 

“Other times a pole is hit during a turning manoeuvre.”

Mr Roberts says farmers may not be “paying as much attention as they should because they are relying on the GPS”. 

To help farmers plan their work, the authorities are providing GPS mapping of South Australia’s electricity distribution infrastructure via the Look Up and Live app and website.