Tag Archives: precision ag

Computer use on Minnesota farms slightly higher than US average

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Morning Ag Clips reports…

Seventy percent of Minnesota farms own or use a desktop or laptop computer, 1 percentage point higher than the U.S. percentage, according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report. Farms using smart phones for their farm business was 85 percent, 3 percentage points above the national percentage.

Eighty-six percent of Minnesota farms have Internet access, up 3 percentage points from 2021. Cellular service is the most common method of accessing the Internet on Minnesota farms, with 79 percent of farms accessing the internet utilizing cellular methods. The proportion of Minnesota farms using broadband (DSL, cable, fiber optic) connection was the second most common method for accessing the internet with 52 percent. Satellite service at 23 percent was the third most common way for Minnesota farms to access the internet.

You can find the full report at the USDA website.

Senator Klobuchar talks about importance of precision agriculture

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KRWC AM 1360 reports…

The 2023 Farm Bill will likely include programs to expand broadband access to more homes, farms and businesses in rural America.

During a recent Senate Ag Committee hearing, Senator Amy Klobuchar talked about the importance of high-speed internet for “precision” agriculture.

Precision agriculture management uses things like drones, GPS, and irrigation technologies. The USDA’s Rural Development program has been awarding loans and grants to expand high-speed internet infrastructure.

Why do farms need broadband? MN farmers will let you know

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KSTP TV reports on the need for broadband in rural areas…

Growing up, Joe Sullivan envisioned a life behind the wheel of a tractor.

But the farmer from Franklin, Minnesota spends most days at a computer with his smartphone nearby.

An app tells Sullivan the location and status of every piece of equipment on the farm. Software maps every acre of land, revealing detailed information about crop yields and soil health. Each building, including the large pole barns that store tractors, is hooked up to Wi-Fi.

“We’ve been pretty early adopters of technology,” Sullivan said. “It’s a complete game changer once you are connected and can actually utilize all the tools that are out there.”

Many other farmers in rural Minnesota want to incorporate the latest technology into their operations, like Sullivan, but unreliable internet and non-existent broadband infrastructure make that impossible.

“It is a huge, huge disadvantage if you’re the ‘have nots,’” Sullivan said.

Broadband is a priority for Minnesota Farm Bureau

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Brownfield Ag News reports…

Minnesota Farm Bureau has set legislative priorities for 2023.

Vice president Carolyn Olson, who farms near Cottonwood, tells Brownfield rural broadband connectivity, supporting research and development at land grant universities, and funding the veterinary diagnostic lab emerged during grassroots discussion.

“To continue research for prevention of animal diseases. As a pig farmer, that is something that is pretty important to me and our neighbors that also raise livestock.”

On broadband, she says Farm Bureau can encourage lawmakers to speed up implementation by sharing their stories.

“It’s important to share how much our tractors rely on cell signal, for example. And if they don’t know, they don’t know how to fight for us either.”

Cooperative recipe for building a private wireless network for precision ag costs $50,000 per farm and $6,000 annually

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Telecompetitor reports…

A new report from CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange Division estimates the upfront cost of deploying a private wireless network to support precision agriculture at $50,000 per farm if deployed through one of the nation’s farm supply cooperatives. The annual recurring cost per farm would be about $6,000, according to CoBank.

“Agricultural cooperatives are in an ideal position to build and deliver carrier-grade, high-speed private wireless networks to their farmer members,” the report observes.

The cooperatives exist to serve the needs of their farmer members and have “institutionalized knowledge of farming operations,” according to the report authors, who see private wireless networks as an opportunity for the cooperatives to develop “new and diverse revenue sources that depend less on turbulent ag commodity and fuel prices.”

The CoBank report cites two key enablers of the private wireless precision agriculture opportunity. One is the availability of a large swath of CBRS spectrum, some of which is unlicensed. The other is the availability of carrier-grade equipment that can be deployed for use by a single entity.

The CoBank estimate of the per-farm cost of private wireless for precision agriculture assumes that 50 farms share network core costs of about $225,000. Considering that the average agricultural cooperative has about 1,000 members, this would mean that about 5% of the farmers in the cooperative would need to participate.

After two days traveling in rural Western MN, I can appreciate the need for investment. Cell coverage is better than is used to be out there, but it’s not consistently great. But listening to the local radio, I hear the stories and concerns about food safety and technology will definitely play a role in keeping food safe!