Farmers Reap New Tools From High-Tech Tinkering

The green tractor trundling across a Manitoba field with an empty cab looks like it's on a collision course with Matt Reimer's combine--until it neatly turns to pull alongside so he can pour freshly harvested wheat into its trailer. It's an eight-year-old John Deere that the 30-year-old Mr. Reimer modified with drone parts, open-source software and a Microsoft Corp. MSFT 1.52 % tablet. All told, those items cost him around 8,000. He said that's about how much he saved on wages for drivers helping with last year's harvest. Mr. Reimer's alterations, which he hopes to replicate for other farmers this year, are part of a technology revolution sweeping North America's breadbasket.