As the sun builds towards its solar max peak, farmers across North America are feeling the effects of increased space weather. Hold on to your hats, because this growing season could be a rough one for GPS signals.
Dr. Terry Griffin of Kansas State University says that recent GPS signal disruptions have been caused by coronal mass ejections (yes, really) and these events can have huge implications for farm operations depending on GPS at this critical time of year. So, what happened over the weekend?
Griffin says that the unexpected early arrival of a coronal mass ejection from an M-class solar flare, triggered GPS disruptions across parts of the continent. While GPS outages typically last only a few hours, severe conditions can extend this window. Farmers should expect periodic outages throughout 2025 and into early 2026 as solar activity remains high, he says.
Predicting these events is akin to tornado forecasting, where it's most reliable only at the last minute. Griffin recommends monitoring the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s spaceweather.gov for updates and interpreting the colour-coded G-scale for geomagnetic disturbances.
Disruptions can miscalculate positions by up to 10 feet, critical during seeding, spraying, and other precision work. Sectional control and automated guidance systems are particularly vulnerable, he adds.
This isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime or even season event, either. It’s a normal part of the 11-year solar cycle. Farmers should expect continued GPS reliability challenges during peak solar activity periods until mid-2026.
