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AEM: We can’t be running thumb drives around

An official with the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) says farmers must have wireless connectivity in their fields to meet the needs of agriculture today and in the future, “To upload tele-metrics data. To have the transfer of that soil information to your agronomist. You know, we can’t be running around thumb-drives. It’s just simply not going to be efficient enough.”

That’s Nick Tindall, AEM’s director of government and industry relations, speaking at a Farm Foundation Forum. He says a tractor or combine that doesn’t have a cell phone signal in the field loses productivity – causing farmers and consumers to lose money, “And, of course, these aren’t problems you just fix overnight. We need to start thinking about this today so 10 years from now when the autonomous tractor is rolling through the field it has the wireless signal it needs.”

Tindall says, far too often, people don’t think corn and soybean fields need a wireless signal, “I don’t think there is any more important need than making sure agriculture has all the tools it needs to be successful.” The Farm Foundation Forum was hosted by the National Press Club in Washington, DC.