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SpaceX’s Starlink to deliver highspeed broadband to rural NE

A state Farm Bureau has reached an agreement with SpaceX to deliver reliable, highspeed broadband to farmers and ranchers across their state.

Nebraska’s Mark McHargue says Starlink internet will help avoid regulatory issues and the high cost of installation. “To get to the last mile, we can’t wait several years to get there, even though we have great federal funding, the states doing a lot of work to get broadband out across the state, we need to get it quickly and really to the farthest places. And our understanding is that Starlink can help us do that.

Chad Gibbs, SpaceX’s vice president of Starlink Business Operations, says the service is ideal for people in rural communities and will provide internet to the last acre for Nebraska producers.

McHargue says access to broadband is a necessity for producers. “Most of that top technology is driven off of being connected, whether it’s cellular, where it’s whether it’s broadband. We have sensors in our fields that tell us real time organic matter, moisture, nutrient density, all those things we’re collecting as we go through the field. We have to be connected to do that.”

NEFB says the Starlink kit can be mailed to producers directly and takes only minutes to install.