NSW farmer Stuart McKeller explains how new telecommunication towers in the state’s central west will resolve the challenges of rural connectivity
Seventeen new telecommunication towers are set to be built across New South Wales’ central west region and finished by the end of the year, as part of major upgrades to improve regional and rural connectivity for farmers.
The state and federal government have provided up to $6.1 million to facilitate the upgrades around 1,500 premises across Weddin Shire, Burcher, Burra, Eumungerie, Glen Davis, and Talbingo in the central west, and Burra, Urila and Talbingo in southern NSW.
Improvements will be delivered through new services provided by YLess4U and Connected Farms, enabling farmers to access reliable communications and data directly from their paddocks, helping maximise productivity, save time and money.
As primary producers and agricultural businesses increasingly rely on the internet for modern farming technology such as livestock monitoring, smart irrigation systems and agtech in tractors, the state government says the improved coverage will allow growers in the Weddin Shire and surrounding areas to make full use of modern farming technology.
“Improved digital services is important for both the productivity of the farm business and for the daily logistical challenges of living in a rural area,” minister for regional NSW Tara Moriarty says.
“Farmers and their families shouldn’t have to stand in the backyard waving their phones around to make a call.”
Connected Farms co-founder and growth lead Melissa Andrews says connectivity services will provide farmers with a platform to utilise the latest in real time digital and precision agricultural technologies to increase their operational efficiency.
“For many years, connectivity in many parts of Weddin Shire has been very limited and these services will also enable better communications and farm safety capability,” she says.
Data dependence
One farmer that is facing the challenges of unreliable communication on his farm is Weddin Shire’s Stuart McKeller.
The sheep and cropping farmer runs a large family operation alongside his wife Cath, brother Brett, and son Scott.
Since the land was handed down from Stuart’s parents, the family have managed the farm together and as residents of Weddin Shire, they are all too familiar with the challenges of rural connectivity.
“Connectivity has always been very poor around here and our dependence on data is getting greater and greater,” Stuart says.
“Accidents often happen where there is no service, and that improved connectivity would not only make residents’ day-to-day lives easier but would increase farm safety across the shire.”
Stuart faced one of these situations in 2023, when his truck broke down 40 kilometres outside of Grenfell.
Realising that he had no service, Stuart deliberately stopped the vehicle on a hill, knowing it was his only chance to get enough mobile reception to call for help.
After he got onto a mechanic and they arrived on-site, the job proved to be much more complicated without reliable internet coverage.
They realised it would take five separate trips back into town to access the phone and internet coverage needed to diagnose the mechanical fault and get Stuart’s truck back on the road.
“It’s an awful lot of travelling and time wasted and if we had decent internet connection, it would have been a simple fix,” Stuart says.
Unfortunately, these incidents aren’t the only way connectivity issues impact Stuart and his family – it also has ramifications for their daily sheep and cropping operations.
The business is forced to rely on paper-based vendor declarations and contracts because they lack the internet access required to download even low-megabyte digital resources.
“Currently, your phone will only work near a certain tree or on a hill, we have to use a paper-based vendor declaration because electronic ones won’t load, and we rely on internet in the home office to do simple things like searching the weather forecast,” Stuart says.
Poor connectivity makes it hard for farmers like Stuart to use modern tools like Variable Rate fertiliser tech, which usually lets them upload field data, like soil tests, straight from their tractor.
Without internet in the field, Stuart is forced to return to the home office to upload the required data and make adjustments before getting back to spreading fertiliser where it’s needed most.
“Any agtech field adjustments that need to be done on farm machinery must be done on the house computer,” he says.
“Our farm is spread out across 30 kilometres so when you go out to the field and realise what you’ve preplanned is wrong, you have to take it back to the home office, where the internet is, to make the necessary adjustments.”
When the Connected Farms service becomes available in the area, the state government says challenges like Stuart’s will become a thing of the past, with residents finally having access to reliable mobile phone reception and metropolitan-grade internet.
“Once we have reliable coverage, it’ll be a big time saving and big benefit if we can make those adjustments on the spot,” Stuart says.
In the Weddin Agriculture Precinct, Connected Farms will deliver a network providing mobile services and high speed fixed wireless broadband to more than 200 premises in Caragabal, Bribbaree, Piney Range and Pullabooka.
Dual SIM phones will allow locals to make calls and access mobile data via the Connected Farms network, while still accessing other mobile voice and data networks.
There will also be improved access to emergency services during disasters and unexpected events.
Telecommunications provider YLess4U will deliver high speed fixed wireless to premises in Burcher, Burra, Eumungerie, Glen Davis, Talbingo and Urila.