Everyone agrees rural broadband, and patience, are needed now

A quick catch-up for anyone joining late. On Aug. 28, the Federal Communications Commission gave the ARA testbed at Iowa State University an Innovation Zone designation: five years of experimental spectrum across Ames and the surrounding farmland, including two municipal airports and a drone control band. The reason that matters sits in the nearby corn and soybean fields: John Deere's machines produce more data than the networks supporting rural farms can typically carry, and new technologies requiring constant connectivity only make the story messier as we start down the rocky road between academic research and commercial applications. Deere is not waiting for the digital divide to disappear. Than Hartsock, John Deere's VP for precision upgrades and its AI data accelerator, said the company now offers integrated satellite connectivity as base equipment from its Brazil factory, where rural coverage is thinner, and as an option in the US.