Deere & Co. said today that a proposal under consideration by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would jeopardize use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in agriculture and construction equipment.

The Moline, Ill.-based company is a member of the Coalition to Save Our GPS, which today released a study reporting the potential of a direct negative impact on the U.S. economy of $96 billion if the proposal before the FCC gains final approval. The FCC had required that the GPS industry be part of a working group to evaluate the proposal for possible interference to existing GPS systems.

“The use of GPS technology is vital to thousands of people who make their living with agricultural and construction equipment. It is not acceptable to allow interference to these important industries when there is no practical solution to mitigate the problem of interference,” said Barry Schaffter, senior vice president and chief information officer at Deere.

Schaffter said estimates of the negative impact to farmers ranges from $14 billion to $30 billion annually.

The proposal in question sets out to create a new, integrated wireless broadband and satellite network that would deploy 40,000 ground stations in the United States and proposes to use a portion of the satellite spectrum that already has been in use for other purposes.

The use of GPS technology in agriculture helps farmers improve their accuracy in the use of seed, fertilizer and fuel. In addition, the use of GPS technology allows farmers to collect data that lead to increased crop yields.

In construction, GPS technologies assist owners in maintaining equipment, lowering fuel costs and providing a means to better design and manage large construction projects such as buildings, highways and shopping centers.