Staying connected means far more than simply catching up on social media or carrying a mobile phone in your pocket; it’s become critical in virtually every aspect of our lives. From providing the network needed to conduct daily tasks such as virtual learning and remote work, to lesser known applications of connected technology in industries like agriculture, connectivity plays a pivotal role in providing the services and resources needed to sustain the growing population and keep up with innovation. However, despite the realized benefits of connectivity, rural communities – farms included – are still underserved when it comes to broadband, meaning farmers currently lack sufficient connectivity to take full advantage of advanced technology to keep the world fed, clothed and fueled.
Farmers today are leveraging robotic equipment at every stage of the production process – to prepare their land, plant seeds, maintain their fields and eventually harvest crops. These robots are self-guided throughout the field with the help of GPS, and are also leveraging a host of technologies – from sensors to AI – to help farmers make better, more efficient and accurate decisions. This is critically important as a farmer will make hundreds of decisions over the course of the year, each having a direct impact on their bottom line and end result, and connectivity helps make it all possible. They must contend with a number of variables, from changing weather patterns to terrain, and individual plant and soil conditions, that run the risk of impacting their outcome consistency. With the added intelligence and insights provided by advanced technology that depend on connectivity around the modern farm, farmers are able to produce more, with impressive efficiency, accuracy and consistency.
Connectivity is paving the way to a new form of spatial intelligence on the farm where historical data in the cloud is combined with real-time information from sensors on machines to optimize decision making. With this, farmers can leverage current knowledge, what is happening right in front of them and what has happened previously in order to make the most informed decisions possible in such a mission critical industry. Connectivity is a core component of making the fusion of data and advanced technologies like AI, machine learning and computer vision a reality for the farmer – and turning this intake of information into actionable insights. For example, advanced connectivity enables machines to merge layers of data from the current and previous passes to guide even more precise actions, providing better use of inputs and maximizing their end result.
Farmers are stewards of the land. They rely on the health of that land for their livelihood and leverage sustainable practices to protect resources and their bottom line. Advanced connectivity means better decision making around the resources a farmer will use – from how many seeds go into the ground, what path to take and what is used to protect their plants. This level of precision brought forth by technology prevents the use of excess resources, and less excess on a farm means lower input costs for the farmer and better environmental sustainability. In the future, connectivity will enable precision with decisions made for each individual plant, rather than addressing needs at the field level.
Connectivity is imperative for agriculture efficiency and productivity, because it enables farmers to implement a broad suite of technologies capable of working in tandem, including GPS, mobile apps, automated driving and sensors. A fully connected farm gives way to a smarter, more efficient and more automated system to simplify the daily tasks of farmers and maximize output potential, delivering improvements in profitability at every step in the production process. With access to broadband in rural communities, farmers will see benefits long-term, from the ability to leverage more intricate technology, sensors and data-capturing tools in real-time, to increased machine-to-machine communication and automation, allowing farmers to do more with less, meeting the increasing demand we will see with the growing population.
As the world adapts to a more connected reality than ever before, we must support the communities where reliable connectivity is mission-critical to sustain our world, and rural broadband infrastructure is needed to achieve this goal. While farmers will continue to face extreme challenges to sustain the growing population, having access to reliable rural broadband is the key to providing farmers with the advanced technology to support their goals.
