Agco will market the technology under the Agconnect brand name.

The multi-year agreement covers all Agco equipment lines and provides high-performing machine control, machine management and precision farming technology products and services to the global agricultural machinery market.

Tierra is the web portal through which all Agconnect information will flow.

If you are scratching your head wondering what it all means, it's part of a telemetry-based system which eventually will allow farmers to control their machinery by remote control.

Part of the umbrella of telemetry services is what Agco calls Fleet Management and Remote Diagnostics System to allow operators to monitor and track machinery remotely.

This has not been introduced into Australia yet but it is on the planning board.

Agco says the system offers great advantages such as knowing instantly when a machine should be serviced, whether a machine is being abused, or how efficient a particular operator is.

Machinery dealers will be able to diagnose issues and update software quickly and remotely, decreasing the need for service call-outs.

And operators will be able to perform preventitive maintenance.

Yes, Big Brother has come of age on the farm.