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NAD83 (North American Datum of 1983) is the coordinate reference system used by virtually all US agricultural GPS equipment, farm management software, and government survey data for the past 40 years. It was designed to be "plate-fixed" — meaning coordinates of a point on the North American plate stay nearly constant over time, even as the continent slowly moves.
NATRF2022 (North American Terrestrial Reference Frame 2022) is the new national coordinate system being adopted by NOAA/NGS to replace NAD83, with a planned transition around 2025–2026. Unlike NAD83, NATRF2022 is aligned with the global ITRF framework, making it consistent with modern GNSS receivers, CORS networks, and centimeter-accurate positioning systems.
In most of the continental US, the difference between NAD83 and NATRF2022 coordinates for the same physical point is 1.5 – 2.1 meters. This is far larger than RTK accuracy (~2 cm). If your guidance lines, field boundaries, or prescription maps are stored in NAD83 and your new base station or correction network starts delivering NATRF2022, your equipment will be offset by roughly 5–7 feet from your actual field features.
Two components contribute:
The transformation uses the published IERS 14-parameter Helmert model for NAD83(2011)→ITRF2014 and the ITRF2014 North American rigid plate Euler vector (Altamimi et al. 2017). Accuracy is ~0.1–0.3 m for CONUS plate interior. Reduced accuracy near plate boundaries (western US, Alaska, Hawaii) where intraplate deformation is significant. For sub-centimetre accuracy use NOAA NGS NADCON5 tools.