Investment in 4G and smartphones changing the work on farms, ranches

Kendall Atkins, a "darn near 80-years-old" panhandle farmer, remembers well the days when market prices remained fixed all day and horses tilled the land.

"We used to dream about sitting in our house, driving the tractor by the push of a button," he recalled.

Now, with GPS guiding machinery and rural 4G networks providing data--and more--instantly, even when farmers or ranchers are out in the field, those days are apparently here.

One smart phone application allows farmers to determine the precise chemical mix necessary, when starting a pesticide or fertilizer run from any point in their field. Another, pioneered by the University of Nebraska, provides drift information for sprayer nozzles. Market information is updated throughout the day, speeding the decisions they used to make after hours of research.

"They're coming up with new stuff all the time," said Ryan Narjes, a fourth generation farmer working land south of Sidney. "It's making everybody more efficient."

Productivity is on the rise. The age of instant information is also changing how farmers and ranchers work. Even the associated industries, such as grain elevators, are affected by 4G speed.

"In the old days you could get the price from an elevator and that price was good to the next day," Atkins reported. "But now, because of the speed of information and overnight markets, they don't dare run transactions that way."

The Colorado-based cellular provider Viaero spent $70 million over the past two years upgrading area rural towers to 4G, and the company is in the midst of an expansion.

To Viaero owner Frank DiRico, it's part of a progression. Not long ago, he remembers, farmers and ranchers would connect to the stream of data through laptops, carried into the field.

"There is a pent up demand to unplug," he said. "People have become infatuated with information."

Verizon issued plans to upgrade their entire rural network in the state by the end of the year, committing some $61 million into its existing 3G network. Meanwhile Viaero has expanded east as far as North Platte. Much of the panhandle will soon be able to access the Internet and more from their phones.

"It's minute by minute," Narjes said--a reference to the pace of the market as well as the speed at which rural network access is growing.

According to the consulting firm Float Mobile Learning, 94 percent of farmers now own a smartphone or mobile phone with some data capability. Half use a smartphone, up from 10 percent in 2010.

This gives them access to a slew of new apps, such as a machinery sizing app, estimating the horsepower necessary to drag implements in the different soils and conditions in a field. There's a fuel calculator, a tank mix calculator and more.

With these new devices, DiRico points out, farmers and ranchers "are so much more productive.

"Productivity has resonated in every industry," he continued.

Not everyone depends upon smartphone apps when working the fields. But all agree that a few clicks to information is a necessity these days, rather than an convenience.

"I can't remember when I got the phone--I'm not a pioneer in this," Atkins admitted. "But you have to make decisions, and I have instant information."