I believe that communications technology is “transformative”, stimulating change in our economy and in society in general.  Our CEO, Ivan Seidenberg, has repeatedly made this point as well.  But it never seems to hit home just how much improvement can come from broadband landline and wireless technologies until a news story demonstrates the extent to which change is occurring in what might have seemed an unlikely sector of our economy.

That’s the thought that struck me when I read the Washington Post’s fascinating story about how farmers are using GPS technology and computers to improve the efficiency of their planting operations.  The story pointed out farmers have begun using GPS-based automated steering for tractors, sensors that probe soil for nutrients and moisture and other gadgets since the late 1990s to cut their expenses and increase their production.   The story noted that these technologies – some based on satellites and some on wireless systems of various kinds – have greatly improved the efficiency of farm operations.

Broadband is penetrating into farm life in more and more ways, connecting farms to the global economy, to suppliers and to the markets in ways never possible in the past.  Take this example offered by Jess Petersen of the U. S. Cattlemen’s Association:

One of the latest and exciting opportunities in the cattle business is the marketing and sale of cattle on online auctions over a broadband connection.  For example, my ranch markets our calves through the Frontier Stockyard Sales.  During the early summer a   Frontier representative video tapes our calves at the ranch.  Next, the calves are advertised on the auction website leading up to the sale date.  Then, in late summer Frontier auctions the calves online via a broadband Internet connection in real time to potential buyers anywhere in the country.  Online auctions have expanded the market for our calves from a local to national market.

The web site for Frontier Stockyard Sales does indeed include a citation for an upcoming video auction of cattle.   Just five years ago, broadband connections barely reached 20 million homes in the U. S.   Today, more than half of all homes  - more that 54 percent – have broadband connections.   Broadband is now available to more than 90 percent of all homes.  A combination of higher penetration rates, more widely available broadband service, the evolution and improvement of broadband and computer technologies, and the pressures of higher fuel and equipment costs have stimulated more active use of online technologies such as the two-way video service that helps drive the Frontier Stockyard auctions. 

What is intriguing to me is what these examples in farm economies say about broadband adoption.   Broadband adoption is moving rapidly ahead but there are often a number of factors that influence decisions about whether or not to get a broadband connection.   Clearly efficiency – the fact that broadband makes it possible to seamlessly connect to a world of information in a variety of forms – is a major driver.  We believe that, as in the case here of farmers using GPS technology to more efficiently guide their tractors, energy efficiency and savings is a key stimulus in broadband adoption.   Teleworking from home, using remote censors on vending machines to reduce wasteful visits by supply trucks to restock machines, home energy monitoring systems that can help dramatically reduce energy waste in homes, and the increased use of much more reliable and capable teleconferencing systems to reduce the need for air travel are all examples of how broadband can reduce energy use and improve efficiency. 

While no one likes to see fuel and gas prices increase, they are stimulating Americans to think creatively about how to use broadband landline and wireless technologies to help reduce energy costs and improve efficiency. That’s good for America and for the environment.