- If there’s something strange on your farm, who you gonna call?
For fans of the Northern Lights, 2024 was a fantastic yes. Aurora borealis lit up the sky across the northern hemisphere in spring and fall, showing up as far south as Mexico.
Many American farmers, however, had some split opinions about the aurora. On one hand, they were certainly pretty to look at.
On the other, they drove the farmers’ tractors insane.
Across the U.S., farmers found that their tractors seemingly developed minds of their own whenever the aurora flashed in the sky. As the farmers attempted to sow and reap, the machines would turn on their own, go off the planned course, or swing from side to side.
“Our tractors acted like they were demon-possessed,” Elaine Ramstad, a northern Minnesota farmer, told Spaceweather.com.
However, it wasn’t demons. No, the tractors were possessed by the sun.
Here’s how solar power hijacked tractors across U.S. farms.
Aurora-Induced Insanity
First, though, a bit of background. Although farming is still hard work, modern technology has eased farmers’ burden a whole heck of a lot.
One of the most important developments has been GPS-assisted tractors. Powered by various systems — such as John Deere’s Autosteer — GPS helps farmers plant and harvest their crops in perfectly straight rows, making the best possible use of their land.
However, it appears the GPS systems are vulnerable to interference from an unexpected source.
The first time GPS tractors went haywire on American farms happened in early May 2024. That also happened to be when the first unusually widespread aurora blazed in the skies.
“All my cousins called me during the May 10 storm to tell me that ‘my auroras’ were driving them crazy while they were planting,” recalled Ramstad.
The aurora caused the GPS-assisted tractors to start doing whatever they wanted. Some farmers said their machines began turning seemingly on their own, while others reported suddenly realizing their crop rows were off by several feet.
And then there were the tractors that started meandering from side to side seemingly without any reason.
‘Made the John Deere Tech Dance’
Eventually, the aurora died down and the tractors started behaving again. And then the whole thing happened again in October when farmer were trying to harvest their crops.
“As the aurora activity began [on October 6], my GPS was off by close to a foot,” Ramstad said. That made harvesting sugar beets on her family farm pretty darn difficult.
“Twice while on Autosteer, the tractor danced a row to the left, to the right — and then the defoliator was off a row, so I had to loop around and start over. By nightfall, there was no controlling the Autosteer,” she added.
Indian farmer Michael Spencer had a similar experience on October 7. Although he enjoyed seeing the aurora, he didn’t like what they did to his equipment.
“This fall was the first time I was able to see the aurora. My hair was standing on end from the beauty, however, it did make the John Deere tech dance,” said Spencer.
“My tractor’s Autosteer system would ‘jump the line’—meaning, the tractor would make a quick jolt left or right and I would have to manually reset.”
A Stormy Sun
So, why was this all happening? It turns out the aurora and the insane tractors were caused by the same thing — massive solar storms.
You see, the sun doesn’t shine passively in the sky. Its activity fluctuates in a roughly 11-year-long cycle, with the period of highest activity known as the solar maximum.
And 2024 happens to be the latest solar maximum.
During this high-activity period, the sun regularly belches out huge clouds of plasma. These solar burps are called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Astronomers categorize CME strength from G1 to G5, with the latter being the strongest solar storm.
Now, even a G1-level CME can cause interference in computers and electronic equipment when it hits Earth. However, between May 10 and May 12 — that is, when the tractors went nuts for the first time — the sun bombarded Earth with five G5-level storms.
As the CMEs hit Earth, they caused the upper atmosphere to twist and roil in unpredictable ways. That disrupted the GPS signals farmers’ automated tractors relied on, which consequently made them lose their digital minds.
The October event wasn’t as drastic, as the solar storm was “only” a G4 event. Yet, it was still more than enough to confuse more tractors.
Although these storms have now passed, farmers aren’t unfortunately in the clear yet. Scientists expect the solar maximum to last for a year or two longer — which means we may see dancing sun-possessed tractors until 2026.