By Brad Haire
University of Georgia
Using a wireless Internet connection inside a south Georgia
conference room, farmer Wade Mitchell checked the environmental
conditions of his grain bins in Iowa. That’s just one way
wireless technology has made his farm more efficient.
“It’s hard to inspect and keep track of all the things you
need,” Mitchell said at the University of
Georgia’s “UnWired ’05: Rural Wireless Conference” in Tifton,
Ga., Nov. 2.
Mitchell’s 2,500-acre, fifth-generation corn and soybean farm is
covered by a wireless network with high-speed Internet access.
He and his son Clay use it to auto-steer tractors, monitor
fields and instantly get weather reports, spray recommendations,
etc.
The Mitchells’ network has helped them cut chemical usage by 20
percent and make crop sprays 30 percent more efficient.
Wireless technology, Mitchell said, “has turned our tractor cabs
into mobile offices. It has saved us hugely in labor and time
and allowed us to be more accurate in our operation.”
Craig Kvien, chair of the UGA National Environmentally Sound
Production Agriculture Laboratory in Tifton, said there
is “little doubt that wireless technology will have a profound
impact on agriculture.”
Most farmers now can handle sophisticated equipment but freeze
up when it comes to computers, said Paul Mask, assistant
director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. “But the
tools we’ll need in the future,” he said, “are the tools we’re
talking about here today.”
John Helm of Vivato, a company that makes high-powered wireless
equipment, said wireless connectivity will enable rural areas to
compete globally. His firm has helped cities and small towns
wirelessly connect emergency services and law enforcement
employees.
Hard wire, or fiber, is still the best for reliable service,
said Donovan Adkisson with CityNet in Tifton. But it isn’t
economical in some rural areas, costing $25,000 per mile. His
company plans to run fiber as much as they can and then use
wireless technology to connect rural residents by early next
year.
Having the potential for wireless access, however, doesn’t mean
you can get it. Wireless signals can shoot over valleys or get
stopped by hills or tall pine trees, said John Mascoe, chief
executive officer of VanCoe Environmental. VanCoe is creating a
100-square-mile wireless network in Calhoun County in rural
southwest Georgia.
Rural areas, Mascoe said, “need an infrastructure of multi-use
300-foot towers to hold wireless equipment. Height is your
friend. That would cure any coverage problems.”
The conference was sponsored by UGA, the Georgia Center of
Innovation for Agriculture and the Tifton/Tift County Chamber of
Commerce.
