精东影业

Part of that newfound interest was driven by pandemic-induced stresses on food systems around the nation and world. The drive to use available technology to maximize crops on farms suddenly felt more urgent鈥攁nd legislators understood what growers and advocates had already pointed out: the only thing holding farms back from using such technology was broadband Internet gaps in the nation鈥檚 more remote regions.

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Without rural broadband Internet, farmers are unable to deploy precision agriculture, develop new routes to market, or use new autonomous and artificial intelligence technology. Filling this gap has been a priority for elected officials on both the federal and local levels, which is why it was a key line item in the bill and remains a prominent part of the 2023 Farm Bill.

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This pointed interest doesn鈥檛 come a moment too soon. The early this year that only 5 percent to 25 percent of all U.S. planted acreage for key crops (winter wheat, cotton, sorghum, and rice) has benefited from the use of precision-agriculture tools that require a broadband connection.

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Boom times听听

As the effects of the pandemic abated, governments began pouring broadband resources into the nation鈥檚 least populated terrain. First came the aforementioned infrastructure bill, which included $42 billion to expand rural broadband. That funding has been working its way downstream; in the summer of 2023, the government divvied up that amount among all states based on need. Now each state has a broadband office, and in June of that year, officials for the first time could access street-level maps showing where broadband remained unavailable to about 12 million buildings or homes.

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鈥淭he big story right now is this map that has come out is an improvement over what we had previously, and we actually now have building-level data,鈥� says Brian Whitacre, a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University. With that roadmap available, officials are now plotting the best way to extend broadband to each area, whether it鈥檚 via fiber, fixed wireless, or some combination of technologies.

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鈥淲e鈥檙e finally to the point where we鈥檙e trying to get those places connected,鈥� Whitacre says, adding that the $42 billion 鈥渋s going to get us a good chunk of the way there.鈥� He notes, however, that some estimates put the cost as .

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That鈥檚 why in August 2023, the USDA offered a fourth round of funding for the ReConnect program, which provides grants and loans to help farmers access broadband. That was on top of another $714 million released in June of that year as part of the initiative, which seeks to spread broadband funding 鈥渢o communities in every corner of the country,鈥� said Mitch Landrieu, the White House鈥檚 infrastructure coordinator.

And negotiations continue on the 2023 Farm Bill, the last incarnation of which was passed in 2018鈥攁 lifetime ago, technology-wise. Broadband is now being discussed in that piece of legislation with an normally reserved for issues such as drought.

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As investment gets underway, close coordination between federal and local agencies will be necessary to avoid duplication of government-funded broadband deployments, Seidemann says. And to speed things along, there must also be a way for providers to begin to install systems while waiting for the red tape鈥攎eaning environmental and historical preservation permits鈥攖o be cut through.

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High-speed solutions

Farmers will benefit from the investments in myriad ways. One published in Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy showed that doubling the number of broadband connections in rural communities is associated with a 4 percent increase in corn yields and a 2.5 percent decrease in farm operating expenses. Another earlier revealed a county-level increase of $25,000 in profits after farms were able to deploy broadband for the first time. The that with broadband, farm income increased by 10 percent from 2018 to 2019, while precision agriculture dropped hired-labor costs on some corn farms by 60 percent to 70 percent.

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The benefits take many forms, including see-and-spray solutions, in which an array of cameras on the front of a tractor or other piece of farm equipment captures real-time images of what鈥檚 happening in the field and sends them to the cloud. AI technology can then identify the plant as a weed or crop, and by the time the back end of the machine passes over it, the equipment knows whether to spray herbicide or fertilizer. One manufacturer predicts this can reduce chemical use by about 66 percent.

鈥淥ne, you鈥檙e not spraying chemicals unnecessarily,鈥� Seidemann says. 鈥淎nd two, you have the more precise and targeted shot of the chemical onto a particular spot.鈥� Other Internet-based technologies enable mapping that can measure yield as a harvest is happening鈥攆or example, as grain is being shot from a harvester into a collection bin. 鈥淭hat enables us to see the productivity results as we map out our acreage,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd that also tells me, do I need to change my irrigation? Do I need to change my seeding strategies?鈥�

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These and other technologies have the combined effect of reducing input costs and improving yields. Meanwhile, sensors can monitor the health of livestock鈥攄own to a hog鈥檚 cough or a cow鈥檚 body temperature鈥攁nd alert a farmer if animals need to be separated. And auctions can be done remotely, saving the farmer the expense of trucking animals around and sparing the livestock the stress of the experience. 鈥淚t really expands the marketplace opportunities in a way that鈥檚 just incredible,鈥� Seidemann says.

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Other potential benefits are global in nature: Broadband-fueled precision agriculture helps farmers cut back on emissions and sequester carbon鈥攕teps that will help contribute to sustainability.

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Broadband in rural areas may sound for many people like an investment in places they鈥檒l never see. But the benefits are likely to reach nearly everyone.