RYAN DENNIS

A small pack of dogs sat on top of the hill and watched us speed by. Everywhere in Bolivia, there are dogs.

I’ll admit it: Six months ago I didn’t know on which continent you could find Bolivia.

Yet, when my girlfriend and I were preparing a trip through South America, there it was in the middle of the other places we were planning on visiting.

If location is everything, let me start by disclosing this one thing: This column is being written inside a tent in the mountains of a drought-stricken desert of Chile.

I walked gingerly up to the table with my registration slip. The eight men sitting there turned toward me. They looked me up and down, making calculations. Rural poker sharks do not look like the Vegas typecast seen in movies.

The nature of agriculture has changed consistently through the decades, becoming largely a global phenomenon. The events farmers experience on one side of the planet, from weather to low prices, often have an impact for those on the other side of the world, especially when it comes to international markets.

We have tractors that can connect to GPS and drive on autopilot. An offsite mechanic can use telematics to access the onboard diagnostic system of a machine.