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Under the Microscope: November 10, 2011

Kansas farmer Jason Ochs still has to man his tractor to plant winter wheat. If an autonomous tractor were planting the wheat, Ochs would be free to attend to his corn and sorghum, and prepare for the winter freeze.
Eric Durban
/
Harvest Pubic Media
Kansas farmer Jason Ochs still has to man his tractor to plant winter wheat. If an autonomous tractor were planting the wheat, Ochs would be free to attend to his corn and sorghum, and prepare for the winter freeze.

This week on the show: a popular conservation program may fall victim to the 2012 Farm Bill. Plus, robot tractors.

Hosted by Kyle Deas.

Every five years the farm bill sparks a fierce struggle between competing interests; nobody wants their program to be the one that gets cut. But with one particular program on the chopping block, it may be the environment that ends up losing. Harvest Public Media's Peggy Lowe has this story.

Plus: Every advance in farming technology has been the in the name of greater and great efficiency. But the next step in that progression may not even involve farmers – or at least, not human farmers. This story comes from Harvest Public Media's Eric Durban.