The Nex-Tech broadband network has long been a game-changer for farms and ranches across Northwest and Central Kansas. Community Engagement Specialist, Friday Otuya, recently visited the LaRosh Farms in Osborne County, KS. He explains how our broadband enables precision agriculture, supports the food production ecosystem beyond Kansas, and forms the bedrock on which many farms and families depend. Indeed, Nex-Tech drives and sustains food security in the nation and beyond.

As innovation and technology continue to shape the overall economy, a basic human need that will remain constant is our need for food. People and communities will continue to need healthy, nutritious, affordable, and accessible food to stay alive and thrive. As such, farms and food producers will remain critical to our society and should get support from stakeholders. Today, Nex-Tech fiber broadband has become a crucial facilitator of the food production process in western Kansas. Our fiber broadband enables access and exchange of data and information which give farmers the insights they need to intelligently grow healthy and nutritious food. Our broadband enables the automation of many farm equipment and machinery. More so, our fiber broadband buried underground and spanning thousands of square miles remains the most reliable internet system that supports the numerous homes and infrastructure necessary to operate farms. My recent visit to the LaRosh Farm was a testament to these facts.

I began my journey to the farm from the City of Hays located just off I-70 in western Kansas. From Hays, I made my way north on U.S. Highway 183 up to Stockton, KS. Then I took a right turn and headed east along U.S. Highway 24, towards the City of Osborne. Less than 10 miles west of Osborne, I went off the paved road and onto a limestone-paved road on which I continued onward to the farm. I was on this road for about 6 miles during which I lost all wireless Internet and cell signals. I arrived at the LaRosh farm shop where the LaRosh family received me and drove me for another 10 miles to the field being harvested that day. At this point, we were now almost 20 miles off the nearest paved road, and there was no access and no connection. No cell signal and no wireless signal whatsoever. Imagine living and running an enterprise here, while being almost completely cut off from internet connectivity. This was exactly why Nex-Tech stepped in.

On arrival at the farm, I met the wonderful members of the LaRosh family. After exchanging pleasantries and getting the equipment set, we got on the combine and got to work. As we drove along and harvested several acres of wheat, I listened and heard the passionate story of what farming means; the unique ways farmers are leveraging our broadband and technology to enhance food production; and how food produced here goes to feed people across the nation and even the world.

Here are 5 facts that underscore Nex-Tech as a facilitator of food production and food security.

1. Nex-Tech has been investing in farms across western Kansas and supporting the food ecosystem for many years. Several years ago, we built fiber broadband to the LaRosh Farm and since then we have maintained reliable service to the farm without interruption.

2. Nex-Tech broadband is the only ‘reliable’ technological connection from the LaRosh Farms to the rest of the world. Come rain, shine, hail, snow, blizzard, wind, or even a heatwave; our broadband remains in service.

3. At no cost to the customer, Nex-Tech periodically maintains and upgrades our fiber equipment to ensure that farms like LaRosh Farms always get the best service possible.

4. Nex-Tech is changing the narrative that rural farmers and ranchers live and work “in the middle of nowhere”. With our broadband, rural farmers and ranchers are now “in the middle of somewhere”, as Sarah LaRosh puts it. They are visible and their output can be visible to the market anywhere in the world. They are also at the center of fulfilling an insatiable need of people and communities- the need for food. They are indeed making the world a better place.

5. After each harvesting season, Nex-Tech broadband enables farmers to carry out extensive soil tests on the acreage to ascertain the levels of nutrients in the soil and how they determine the year’s yield. When such data is known, the farmers also leverage our broadband to access the ways to optimize the concentration of various minerals in the soil.

The LaRosh Farms is a reflection of many farms and ranches across the Nex-Tech footprint. Typically, the farmers leverage Nex-Tech fiber broadband in their homes, farms, and equipment. Through our fiber broadband, such farms have access to local, regional, and global food markets, where they market their produce like wheat, soybeans, corn, beans, alfalfa, milo, and more along the value chain. When these crops are harvested, they are sold to factories and food processors who finish them into various food products that we see on grocery shelves nationwide. Thus, soils are optimized leveraging Nex-Tech broadband; the crops are grown intelligently on these soils leveraging a variety of broadband data; after harvest our broadband enables profitable marketing of produce to the grain silos and other processing plants; and then they finally end up in front of buyers and consumers across the country.

This is how Nex-Tech ensures food security not just in Kansas but around the nation and the world. We are grateful to our customers, our communities, and all stakeholders for this. Check out our current fiber builds across Kansas.

And just before you go, check out this video reel of the farm tour experience. 😊