At this year’s SATELLITE 2025 conference, one hot topic was agriculture. With the world’s population expected to grow by 2 billion over the next 30 years, farmers are under pressure to feed, fuel, and clothe a growing population while dealing with a shrinking labor force. The key question now is: how can we produce smarter?
During the “Satellite-Powered Smart Farming for the Future” panel, experts from Intelsat, NASA Acres, John Deere, and Speedcast, highlighted how satellite connectivity is transforming agriculture. By enabling autonomy, real-time data insights, and precision farming, satellites assist farmers in optimizing resources, improving yields, and ensuring long-term food security.
NASA Acres: Advancing Smart Farming with Satellite Data
NASA Acres is playing a significant role in advancing smart farming by leveraging satellite imagery to help the U.S. agriculture industry, as explained by NASA Acres Deputy Director Mike Humber. Humber highlighted NASA Acres’ focus on data transparency, farmer collaboration, and research-driven solutions to improve agriculture decision-making. This initiative aims to improve yield estimation, soil moisture analysis, evapotranspiration tracking, and precision farming techniques using Earth observation data. Recognizing the challenges of data accessibility, NASA Acres is also creating user-friendly tools to make satellite insights more useful to farmers. Humber also discussed the Farmer Innovation Ambassador Team (FIAT) initiative which aims to connect directly with farmers to ensure research aligns with real-world needs.
Global Leaders Driving Smart Farming Innovation
CEO David Wajsgras in the “Global Operator CEOs on Improving the Customer Experience” panel revealed the company’s presence in agriculture, specifically its collaboration with CNH to equip tractors with satellite connectivity. Because of this partnership, Case IH, Steyr, and New Holland tractors will be outfitted with ruggedized satcom terminals, allowing farmers to connect seamlessly in remote areas where traditional networks fail. Additionally, this connectivity will enable precision agriculture, real-time cloud access, and machine-to-machine communication, allowing agricultural equipment to exchange data and receive commands from farmers, significantly increasing productivity and yields.
Bruno Fromont, Intelsat’s CTO, reinforced the project’s momentum in his panel stating, “We’re currently testing ruggedized terminals and connectivity from Intelsat on high-end CNH tractors in the U.S. and Brazil. With several other equipment manufacturers in our pipeline, this is not just a PowerPoint concept—this market is real today and poised for substantial growth.”
The discussions at SATELLITE 2025 made it clear that satellite connectivity is actively transforming agriculture. With companies such as NASA Acres advancing satellite data applications and Intelsat driving connectivity solutions for precision farming, the industry is embracing technology to address the challenges of feeding a growing population.
