High-Tech Agriculture
Private 5G networks for precision farming, livestock monitoring, autonomous machinery, and drone operations. Smart agriculture for farms of every size.
Precision farming, livestock monitoring, and autonomous machinery all depend on connectivity that doesn't exist on most UK farms. We deploy private 5G networks in the same rural terrain where we already operate, bringing smart agriculture within reach of farms that big telcos have written off.
What Private 5G Enables
From precision farming to livestock security, connectivity transforms every aspect of modern agriculture.
Precision Farming
Per-plant monitoring with IoT sensors tracking soil moisture, nutrients, atmospheric temperature, and humidity. Targeted irrigation and fertiliser application that cuts waste and boosts yields.
Livestock Monitoring
GPS tracking and health sensors on collars and tags monitoring ovulation, temperature, and illness indicators. Earlier disease detection improves animal welfare and reduces vet costs.
Autonomous Machinery
Reliable low-latency connectivity for robotic weeding and harvesting, self-driving ploughing and fertilising vehicles. Automation that addresses labour shortages without compromising safety.
Aerial Monitoring & Security
Drones tracking herds, plotting grazing areas, and monitoring crop health. Equipment and livestock theft alerts, addressing the £49.5M annual cost of rural crime to UK agriculture.
5G in UK Agriculture Today
Private 5G is already being deployed on UK farms — here's what's happening.
Cannon Hall Farm, Barnsley
VMO2 connected a 126-acre estate with 5G, eliminating blackspots and installing trackers on equipment, livestock, and gates.
Sunderland 5GIR Agritech
Wireless sensors deployed across crops, soil, livestock, and environmental monitoring as part of the 5G Innovation Region.
5G RuralDorset
Agritech trials documented by UKTIN, demonstrating practical 5G applications in rural farming environments.
Source: UKTIN
Why Aerix
Our Llanthony Valley deployment proved we can deliver connectivity in exactly the terrain where farms operate - remote valleys, hills, and areas with zero existing coverage. Farms need managed networks, not enterprise DIY kits. We handle the infrastructure so farmers can focus on farming.
Related Reading
Robotic Dairy and Autonomous Harvest: Why Farm Automation Needs Its Own Network
Robotic milkers and driverless tractors are arriving on UK farms. The weakest link is the network between the yard and the field.
What Can Private 5G Actually Do on a Farm?
From precision farming to livestock tracking, here's what private 5G enables on UK farms.
From 2Mbps to Smart Agriculture: Why Rural Connectivity Is the First Step
You can't have smart farming without reliable internet. The connectivity gap is the biggest barrier.
Common questions
What can private 5G actually do on a working farm?
Practical examples our customers run today: livestock GPS and health collars on cattle and sheep, soil-moisture and weather sensors across paddocks, autonomous machinery in fields out of fibre reach, perimeter and barn CCTV, and reliable broadband for the farmhouse and let cottages. One private cellular network covers all of these without daisy-chaining cellular dongles or running miles of fibre.
Why not just use 4G or fixed wireless rural broadband?
Public 4G drops out under hills and trees, has shared capacity that gets congested, and only covers where MNOs chose to build. Fixed wireless needs line-of-sight. Private 5G is engineered for the specific topography of your farm — radios placed on barns, silos, or polestops to give wide-area coverage that follows the land, not the operator coverage map.
Does it cover the whole farm?
Typically yes. One outdoor 5G radio covers several hundred metres in open ground; two or three radios will blanket a 200–500 hectare farm. We map the coverage during the site survey and adjust radio placement until the whole working area is covered.
How much does it cost for a working farm?
Smaller farms running a single radio for broadband and a handful of sensors typically pay from £150–£400/month all-in. Larger mixed deployments (multiple radios, hundreds of devices, integration with existing farm software) scale up from there. Pricing is monthly, no capex, no minimum contract longer than 12 months.
Will autonomous machinery work over your network?
Yes — that is one of the use cases the technology is designed for. Robotic dairy systems, autonomous harvesters, and drone surveys all run well over private 5G because the network gives the consistent low-latency connection these systems need. We have customers running exactly these workloads in the UK today.
Ready to connect your farm?
We already deploy private 5G in the rural terrain where farms operate. Let's talk about what connectivity could do for your operation.