Harnessing 5G in the Fields While Serving Entire Communities
5G, one of the most prevalent innovative technologies driving forward the digital era is seeing mass adoption throughout a myriad of industries and continually expediting global growth. As disruptive technology has seen increasing utilization incorporated into an array of effective devices and solutions, one key sector that has thrived because of 5G integration is the farming and agriculture industry which has seen extensive overhauls causing considerable improvements, minimizing resource expenditure while maximizing yields.
Traditionally suffering from largely inefficient processes, the introduction of 5G within agriculture works to resolve the prevalent issues plaguing the industry that has resulted in massive food wastage, the cost of which ranges between $7.245 billion - $16.905 billion.
“Successful optimization of farming routines through the use of new 5G and edge computing technologies has proved difficult due to many farming operations taking place in particularly rural, unserved, and underserved locations without access to the reliable and secure broadband required for the machinery to effectively operate,” said Bill Hurley, Chief Revenue Officer at Veea, an edge connectivity, edge compute, and cloud solutions integration company.
Hurley is speaking at the Rural Wireless Infrastructure Summit this week in Park City, Utah, contributing to the “It’s Time to Plant: Farming, Broadband, and the Future” panel which is discussing the opportunities for the advanced precision agriculture solutions and automation, transforming obsolete farms into a digital enterprise.
Presenting on the panel, in addition to Hurley, are Rebecca Dilg, Broadband Center Director, Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity; Kevin Cabbage, CEO of FMTC, Chairman of the Board of Chat Mobility; Greg Jarman, VP Broadband Partnerships, Wabash Heartland Innovation Network (WHIN).
Discussions of the ongoing digital divide and the real challenges it presents are fundamental to the work of the Rural Wireless Association and the Rural Cloud Initiative, which are focused together on removing obstacles and bringing 5G to rural America.
Key to providing the critical infrastructure for the agriculture industry during a period of turmoil caused by a projected food shortage, successful 5G integration supported by an on-demand broadband service is a necessity for farms to increase their production apace with the growing demand.
“The best news about bringing broadband to every rural community in America is that it addresses many challenges, in addition to optimizing agricultural production and profitability,” Hurley said. “A single, high quality, fast and secure broadband network can make a huge difference in access to education, jobs, economic development, healthcare, disaster response and so much more. We are honored to be part of this important summit.”
Edited by
Erik Linask
