Smart Tech
Bridging the Gap: Emergent Connext Brings Internet to the Field Edge
October 6, 2025 
Mike Roudi, CEO of Emergent Connext, joined CropLife Editor Lara Sowinski for a Fireside Chat at the 2025 Tech Hub LIVE in Des Moines, IA.
At Tech Hub LIVE 2025 in July, where agtech innovation took center stage, one theme resonated throughout the conference: the importance of foundational infrastructure. Amid conversations about interoperability, IoT, and the latest smart farming tools, the final Fireside Chat of the event featured Mike Roudi, CEO of Emergent Connext, who reminded the audience of a simple truth — none of the promise of agtech matters without reliable connectivity.
“Ag operates in rural markets by definition,” Roudi said. “There are profound coverage gaps. Some farms are fine, but the vast majority don’t have internet access where they work — on the farm.”
Roudi, a veteran of the telecom industry, is bringing his deep knowledge of connectivity to agriculture through Emergent Connext, a new company building wireless networks specifically designed for rural areas. The core of their solution lies in LoRa and LoRaWAN networks, a wireless technology that offers long range and low power consumption — two essential qualities for agricultural environments.
“Unlike expensive cellular networks, LoRa has two key benefits,” Roudi explained. “First, long range — our radios or gateways can talk to smart devices 15 to 20 miles away, especially in flat areas like the Midwest. Second, low power — devices on our network can have a battery life of 6, 7, even 8 years.”
The simplicity and efficiency of LoRa-based infrastructure can be a game changer in rural environments where running electricity to every device or installing costly solar setups is not practical. “Think about a typical farm — you can’t run extension cords out to the middle of thousands of acres,” said Roudi.
Emergent doesn’t stop at building networks. The company also offers what Roudi calls “curated smart farming and precision ag solutions,” all supported by a custom-built platform called FieldVision, which allows farmers to monitor key aspects of their operation in real time.
While many agtech companies aim to disrupt agriculture with cutting-edge tools, Roudi emphasizes the need to start with practical, tangible use cases. “We always say, ‘Don’t try to sell 85 sensors. Solve one problem.’ Once the farmer says, ‘Hey, what about this? ’— that’s when you’ve got them.”
One example Roudi shared is tank monitoring. “Farmers spend time and energy checking fertilizer or water tank levels. If we can automate that and let them check from a screen, that’s a win.”
Skepticism still lingers in the market, Roudi acknowledged, especially from farmers who’ve been burned by overpromised technologies. “They were promised a solution would work, and it didn’t. So there’s skepticism,” he said. “We believe in starting small. One simple, easy-to-understand solution that provides real value.”
Emergent partners with sensor companies like Soiltech, bundling their devices with Emergent’s network and platform to deliver a complete solution. “And by the way, we don’t make sensors,” Roudi noted. “We partner with the best, and we focus on what we do best—connectivity.”
Currently, Emergent Connext operates in five U.S. markets, including Central California, parts of the Midwest (particularly northwest Ohio, Indiana, and southern Michigan), and the Mississippi Delta. While the company’s long-term goal is to build coverage across all 2.5 million square miles of designated rural space in the U.S., their approach is highly adaptive and localized.
“We call it demand network building,” Roudi said. “You start small and expand in concentric circles. If we find a customer here in Iowa, for example — which we hope to do at this show — we can build a local network right around their farm.”
For Roudi, connectivity is more than just infrastructure — it’s the missing link in unlocking agtech’s full potential. “What’s fascinating about ag is that everyone is talking about smart tech,” he said. “But somewhere along the way, we skipped the first step: we need consistent internet access to power all these amazing tools.”
As agriculture continues its slow but steady shift into the digital age, Emergent Connext is positioning itself as the bridge between analog operations and a smarter, more connected future. Roudi’s message to growers is clear and grounded in practicality: “Just pick one thing, see how it works, get comfortable, and move to the next. You don’t have to eat the whole sandwich in one bite.”
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