Congressional Hearing Allows Airing Of Concerns About Lightsquared Technology

A couple of weeks ago, I got a call from Rick Greene, the precision agriculture manager at Missouri cooperative MFA, Inc. I had just completed an article that we used as the cover story for CropLife magazine that featured MFA’s precision program, so I thought he might be following up with me on something in the story.

As it turned out, Rick was seeking information about the use and adoption of GPS among agricultural retailers. He had accepted an invitation to come to Washington, DC and testify on behalf of the Agricultural Retailers Association before the House Small Business Committee, chaired by Missouri Congessman Sam Graves, to share the impact that GPS interference would have on businesses like MFA. His testimony would be part of a larger hearing into the impact that the deployment of high-speed internet service by Lightsquared, now currently in a holding pattern, would have on small businesses – in particular, agricultural retailers.

 

I was pleased to be able to send Rick some information – CropLife magazine has been conducting an annual (now biennial) survey to gauge retail adoption of precision technology for 15 years, so we had plenty to share. Frankly, given that he had a mere 5 minutes to deliver as much information as he could to the committee, it might have been overwhelming.

Rick’s moment under the spotlight was yesterday, and you can view it below on YouTube – Rick’s part starts around the 13:00 minute mark. He did his best to get as many impactful statistics into the testimony as possible, and does a great job representing GPS’ significance in agriculture throughout the hearing. He also did well throughout the question and answer period.

I caught up with him after the fact yesterday, and his impression after the hearing and some meetings that followed that Lightsquared would not be able to proceed with its deployment of high-speed internet until it could be assured that GPS signals would not be compromised.

That’s the impression I’ve been getting as I view from afar and chat with folks on the inside, but we can’t be too sure of anything when it comes to government regulation. I commend Rick and the Agricultural Retailers Association for continuing the drumbeat supporting high accuracy GPS in agriculture on Capitol Hill, and hope it makes a real difference in the decision making process.