Elevating Indiana agribusiness with high-speed connectivity
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Lessons of foundational innovation: a number of years ago officials from the Indiana Department of Education joined local and regional representatives in rural Ellettsville. The occasion reflected the latest in broadband connectivity technology at the time. Smithville had partnered with Indiana Bell and other entities to create a then-exciting distance learning capacity for rural high school students – possibly then the first in Indiana – which was considered groundbreaking innovation.
Today, at first glance, this achievement may seem pedestrian, even basic by 21st century standards. But there exists a key point: the focus and commitment that combined to produce that-then major advancement represent the same risk-taking and pioneering thinking that is producing dramatic innovations across the plains in Indiana.
Agriculture touches every aspect of human life. In the 21st century, the rapidly changing needs and demands of agriculture, agribusiness and agbiosciences have made high-speed connectivity an integral, even crucial, tool and platform. From precision farming by satellite to real-time soil analysis to crop modeling and analysis and more, reliable high-speed connectivity has transformed how many Hoosier farmers and agricultural professionals operate and engage with domestic and international markets.
As Mitch Fraizer, CEO of AgriNovus Indiana, recently attested, agriculture, ag-tech, and agbioscience today represent powerful opportunities for an entirely new era of technology-supported and -powered agriculture in the Hoosier state.
How is this unfolding? Many farmers today augment physical plows and cultivators with high-tech GPS, drones and sensors, collecting and deploying real-time data about soil conditions, weather patterns and crop health. Farmers armed with this critical data can make informed decisions about planting times, when to irrigate, and when and what types of fertilizer can maximize crop growth.
IoT (internet of things) devices support or outright automate many tasks on Hoosier farms and production facilities. The entrepreneurial deployment of ag-based IoT creates a strategic capacity for smart farming systems, where interconnected devices both monitor and manage key agricultural operations autonomously. As these systems grow in intricacy and application, we see growth in both efficiency and in the shift in the agricultural workforce.
High-speed connectivity – often accessed through high-capacity fiber networks – powers and links all of these remarkable innovations. As coordinated by AgriNovus, Purdue, and other relevant partners, the Hoosier state holds a powerful position to achieve success in agribusiness innovations elevating crop health, animal health, and hardtech.
Broadband-based distance learning and knowledge transfer has become integral to agribusiness, with farmers and production professionals leveraging online training, global market information, product demand, and the latest crop technologies. High-speed connectivity flings open digital barn doors, accessing markets well beyond county and state boundaries.
Key data gathered through high-speed connectivity helps farmers pinpoint the best times to plant, cultivate, fertilize and harvest, as well as the best times to bring livestock to market. When a far-off storm lurks beyond the horizon, online weather reports and alerts give farmers and livestock producers time to secure equipment, bring livestock into shelter, and prepare for possible impact of hazardous weather.
Indiana is especially poised to achieve a leadership position in agbioscience. An AgriNovus report recently detailed four areas of potential innovation in value-added food and nutrition, plant science and production, agricultural equipment (including new technologies), and animal health and nutrition.
High-speed internet connectivity plays a foundation role in all of these advancements.
Once high-speed fiber connectivity was considered a nice-to-have service that was largely confined to densely populated urban areas. Like other rural telecoms and REMCs, Smithville has championed the construction and development of thousands of miles of Hoosier rural fiber connectivity. The once-primary focus of rural-based telephone service from Smithville and other rural telecom services has today largely been eclipsed by state-of-the-art data networks, where voice service is one of many offered. Those changes reflect dramatic innovative progress within the state of Indiana.
But while much has been achieved, much remains to be done. One day high-speed connectivity – rural or urban – will be considered a must-have commodity, much the same as energy and water services are today. We saw that transformation first-hand in the recent pandemic, when internet connectivity served us all.
Inefficient and old regulations regarding right-of-way and other issues, coupled with high installation costs in rural areas (especially in areas of high-density rock or waterways in southern Indiana), still hamper and delay the day when high-speed connectivity will be truly universal. Government, regional utilities, and private providers must all continue to work together to break down the remaining barriers and create platforms that will ensure that Hoosier farmers and professional producers have access to the digital tools that will achieve real leadership in agribusiness and agbiosciences.
As Indiana continues to invest in digital infrastructure, so will its farmers and agribusiness ventures capture new opportunities and leadership in global markets.
Cullen McCarty is executive vice president of Smithville, a nationally recognized top 100 broadband company, called by Indiana state officials the “state champion of rural broadband.”