Computer Connectivity And Carbon Contracts
The two go hand-in-hand in farm country
For Lukas Fricke, good data forms the framework for management decisions he and his brother make on their Ulysses, Neb., farm operation.
Through the data they’ve collected, processed and pored over in the past five years, the sixth-generation farmers know conservation practices could be financially worthwhile.
“What we found is we could get a ROI with different conservation practices — that there are actually dollars and cents in our bank account at the end of the day,” Fricke says.
That insight encouraged the brothers to adopt strip tillage on some of their acres, and it also opened the door to carbon market contracts.
Data = Insights
Their initial success with carbon markets, however, wouldn’t have been possible without access to dependable internet access, Fricke says. It’s an issue he encourages other farmers to consider.
“I know connectivity and carbon sound like two polar opposites, but to get a good carbon data set you have to know where your farm stands and where you can get better,” he explains. “We have to have a good data set, so we need great computing, and that’s not routinely on the farm today.”
The Digital Divide
Fricke’s perspective is on track, based on the results of a recent Farm Journal survey. It found 44% of farmers said emerging markets such as carbon credits are an incentive to collect more and better data.
Today, roughly seven in 10 rural Americans have a broadband internet connection at home, according to the Pew Research Center. Rural residents have seen a nine-percentage point rise in home broadband adoption since 2016, the center reports. Despite the rise in rural adoption, rural residents are still less likely than those living in suburban areas to report having home broadband.
Plus, such connections are often slow or faulty. Fricke says connectivity impacts on-farm opportunities that extend beyond carbon.
“As the labor force shrinks, we have to move to more automated processes,” he says. “Agriculture is willing to innovate, and time and time again we have risen to the occasion, but we’re at a bottleneck. All this great technology has to be connected.”
