Forget broadband access, if for just a moment. Even if farmers in lower Delaware had blazing internet speeds, they still wouldn’t be able to implement new farming technologies like smart chicken coops and smart irrigation systems. It’s just too dang expensive.
Satellite-guided pesticide sprayers can cost $25,000 a pop. Installing a GPS system to your John Deere tractor can cost just under $40,000.
According to the News Journal, Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Ed Kee said most farmers in Delaware wait for prices to plummet before acquiring new technologies.
But surely there are far superior technologies by then, no? It’s akin to buying a Walkman in 2005, four years after the release of the iPod. It’s a risk some farmers just have to take.
“It costs you money upfront, but it pays for itself in the long run,” Middletown farmer Dennis Clay told the News Journal.
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