WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2016 - Whether you are talking about
roadways, broadband, rural hospitals or waterways, a diverse group of
stakeholders are on the lookout for infrastructure enhancements that can keep American
agriculture competitive and rural America more attractive for the next
generation. That was at least one of the key messages from the first ever Rural
Infrastructure Summit, hosted by Agri-Pulse in Ames, Iowa this week and
sponsored by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
Leif Magnusson, AEM chairman and president of CLAAS Global Sales Americas, says that in
coming weeks, AEM will solicit “the best papers and presentations outlining new
ways to transport agricultural commodities along U.S. systems, roads, highways
and rail.” He says the competition will be much like the Infrastructure Vision 2050
Challenge, a contest AEM has been conducting this year, offering cash
prizes for engineers, scientists and others to attract groundbreaking ideas for
advancements in American infrastructure more broadly.
Magnusson pointed out that agriculture is the biggest user
of cargo moving infrastructure, accounting for 31 percent of all U.S. freight
ton miles, so equipment makers want to prompt long-range improvements in ag
freight systems. The ag infrastructure contest will likely run into early 2017
before winning proposals are selected, he said.
Magnusson announced the contest at the opening of the Summit,
where a range of experts linked to rural finance, electronic engineering,
communications, transportation, agricultural production and more offered their
ideas on the challenges ahead for rural infrastructure, advancements on the
horizon and ideas for improvement. “We hope this is just the start of a
continuing conversation” about meeting challenges to improve all modes of
transportation and communications “to keep agriculture competitive and rural
America very livable,” said Sara Wyant, Agri-Pulse
editor and a co-sponsor of the event with AEM.
Speakers offered their outlooks, for example, on increasing
operating autonomy for both machinery in the field and vehicles on the
highways. Kevin Kimle, director of ISU’s Agricultural Entrepreneurship
Initiative, says motorized grain cars operating autonomously are on the way,
and, in fact, some grain cars “will be operating without drivers” in some Iowa
fields in this fall’s harvest.
Darryl Matthews, senior vice president of Trimble, in charge of
agriculture, forestry and positioning services, says 80 percent of Iowa’s
tractors of greater than 100 horsepower are already “steered by satellite (GPS
systems).” But as autonomous control systems are perfected, he said, they will
be accepted on highways, where vehicles will be driven both closer together and
more safely. That means increasing the capacity of the roads for more vehicles,
he said, and building roads with the latest technology and smart connectivity.
“I suspect the cost of a road in the future is going to go up, but I suspect we
will be building fewer of them and putting higher capacity on them,” he said.
Advances in another slice of U.S. manufacturing technology,
3-D printing, will improve the farm and rural businesses infrastructure,
Mathews said, because the printers will build parts for farm machinery and
equipment locally and quickly at low cost. Already, 3-D printers are making
parts at rural locations, he says. “What they can do is download the specs on
how to produce the part and the farmer or rural client comes and picks that
part up.” That also reduces a need for delivery vehicles on highways. Plus, he
says, “Amazon is testing delivery of orders by drone today.”
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