Digital Agriculture and AI Spotlighted at Nebraska Fiber Event

OMAHA, Neb. — The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) today hosted a Regional Fiber Connect, bringing together policymakers, agricultural leaders, technology innovators, and industry partners to examine how fiber broadband is powering the next generation of digital agriculture, artificial intelligence, and rural economic development across Nebraska. The one-day conference explored how secure, high-capacity connectivity is transforming farms, communities, and entire industries, including the partnerships and federal investments needed to keep rural America competitive in an increasingly connected economy.

“Fiber is more than broadband—it is the foundation that enables AI adoption, precision agriculture, workforce development, and our next generation of business investment,” said Marissa Mitrovich, Vice President of Public Policy of the Fiber Broadband Association. “Nebraska’s future depends on the digital infrastructure that we build today. Today’s Regional Connect brought together the people building those networks with the leaders and producers who depend on them. This collaboration across sectors will allow rural communities to compete for the industries and jobs of the future.”

Held ahead of the Regional Fiber Connect, FBA continued the Fiber Policy Lab series with an event titled “Fiber to the Field: How Fiber Broadband is Powering Rural Innovation.” The Lab convened FBA members alongside local, state, and federal leaders for a candid discussion of the barriers to rural broadband deployment and the innovation that connectivity is unlocking across agriculture and rural economies. Participants included Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Dan Watermeier; Emily Haxby, Vice Chair of the Gage County Board of Supervisors; Theresa Thibodeau, District Director for the Office of Congressman Don Bacon (NE-02); and Emily Allen, Executive Director of Tech Nebraska. Together, they shared perspectives on the policy and deployment challenges facing rural communities and the role strong partnerships at the local, state, and federal levels can play in expanding fiber access. The series is built to give the companies designing, building, and operating fiber networks a direct line to the policymakers shaping broadband’s future.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), 27% of U.S. farms or ranches already use precision agriculture practices, highlighting the growing role and importance of connected technology in modern farming. As agriculture becomes increasingly data-driven, reliable broadband is essential for supporting connected equipment, real-time analytics, and farm-generated data. Fiber provides the capacity, reliability, and scalability needed to support precision agriculture over the long term.

The Omaha Regional Fiber Connect worked through the barriers of deploying fiber in rural and agricultural communities and addressed closing the connectivity gap across sessions that included:

• Digital Agriculture: The Next Innovation Frontier
• Future Ready Infrastructure: Where Fiber Fuels Intelligence
• How AI and Robotics Are Shaping What’s Possible on the Farm
• Precision Agriculture: How AI Enables Better Yields
• Fiber to the Farm: Where, When, and Connected to What
• Beyond Precision Ag: Rural Community Economic Impact

Speakers included Gary Bolton, FBA’s CEO, Evann Freeman, Vice President of Government and Community Relations at EPB, who delivered the welcome and closing remarks; and Dr. Scott Hutchins of the USDA, who gave the opening keynote. The program also drew leaders from across the technology and agriculture sectors, including representatives from Google, GFiber, Tech Nebraska, the Nebraska Farm Bureau, Core Bank, and North Dakota State University’s Peltier Institute for Advancement in Agricultural Technology, along with fiber industry partners from across the country.

For more information, visit fiberboadband.org.

About the Fiber Broadband Association

The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) is the voice of fiber, helping providers, policy makers, and communities make informed decisions about how, where, and why to build better fiber broadband networks. FBA is the largest and only trade association that represents the complete fiber ecosystem of service providers, manufacturers, industry experts, and deployment specialists. Since 2001, FBA and its members have worked to advance fiber broadband deployment to accelerate innovation and increase quality of life by enabling every community to leverage the economic and societal benefits that only fiber can deliver. The Fiber Broadband Association is part of the Fibre Council Global Alliance, which is a platform of six global FTTH Councils in North America, LATAM, Europe, MENA, APAC, and South Africa. Learn more at fiberbroadband.org.