America depends on communities of all sizes. In today’s interconnected world, smaller towns need reliable rural broadband to compete.
CEC Facilities Group has helped bring high-speed fiber-optic cable online for the last few years, and is beginning a new chapter in Big Sky country. CEC’s long-haul fiber group is connecting almost 45,000 service addresses in the greater Billings, Montana, area to the high-speed internet.
The project, which began in August, covers almost 500 miles along highways, creeks, fields, mountains, and homes. As CEC’s equipment rolls along, farmers, ranchers, local businesses and residents will have a more stable connection to the world’s information resources.
“We’ve built similar rural broadband networks throughout the Midwest and Southwest, and now we’re glad to bring high-speed internet to Montana,” said CEC President Brad Smith.
CEC has a history of successful projects in Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Louisiana, Missouri, and Kansas. On each, CEC bores, trenches, plows, and splices to install fiber-optic cable. Most of the work occurs underground, although some sections require aerial work. CEC’s equipment has arrived and is ready to begin this three-year project.
Montana rural broadband facility
CEC has added a new warehouse in Billings to support this project. In early September 2021, CEC and the City of Billings held a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Named for the former president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, Billings is the seat of Yellowstone County with a metro population of 184,000 people. While those numbers are much smaller than CEC’s hometown of Dallas, the region produces a large percentage of the world’s wheat, barley, and cattle, among other products.
While internet-connected agriculture has proven successful in wired regions, most of the country falls below the FCC’s benchmark for broadband at 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. In fact, this Commerce Department map shows the utter lack of broadband access throughout the nation. The state of Montana has almost 28,000 farms, which can benefit from advanced internet connections. These include:
- Precision agriculture: Using GPS, digital field measurements and better access to data, farmers and ranchers can purchase accurate amount of feed, seed, and fertilizer. In turn, this improves efficiency, reduces wastes, and lowers food prices throughout the US and the world.
- Better planning: With a stable connection, rural-broadband customers can access web-based tools to refine their yearly forecast. This benefit is also important for businesses and resource management.
- Reduced water usage: Precision agriculture and ranching has been shown to reduce water consumption by 20-50 percent. This is critical in arid Montana, which is currently in a major drought.
- Tele-working: During the pandemic, the world saw the benefits of telemedicine, distance education and video meetings. A stable, high-speed internet connection allows for these advancements in rural America.
- Predictive maintenance: In facilities, wireless controls systems are used to identify and alert when equipment isn’t meeting normal operating standards. In some cases, the systems can diagnose and fix themselves. Internet-connected devices can do the same for combines, automatic milking stations, and even cattle – essentially bovine fitness trackers.
The USDA forecasts that rural broadband will have a slow, steady impact on American production like electrification in the 1930s, or portable power in the decades that preceded it. It will revolutionize small towns and trade centers like Billings first, then have a long-term impact on the food production system.
“When we are able to deploy broadband ubiquitously, think of all the things we will be able to design, harvest, and develop,” said former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue in a previously published USDA report.
Connected agriculture benefits
The benefits of connected agriculture have concrete results, too, according to the USDA:
- Using wireless monitors on equipment, farmers can save almost $32 per acre on input costs and seed expenses.
- Stable web platforms allow small producers to earn up to 50 cents more per bushel of corn, soy, wheat, and rice.
- Precision feeding can decrease feed costs by 12 cents per day, per cow.
- Online cattle marketplaces can return, on average, $10,000 more per year compared to mainstream supply chains.
“We are an innovative company. Part of our mission is to help communities thrive through technology,” Smith said. “With projects like these, our long-haul fiber group helps us achieve this goal.”