Broadband boosts rural America

To keep pace with urban, more technologically developed communities, rural areas throughout the United States need access to broadband – high data-rate Internet access.

Broadband is often called "high-speed" access to the Internet because it usually has increased rates of data transmission.

Rural businesses are equally as dependent on Internet technology to conduct business operations that are integral to remaining competitive, maintaining efficiency and being successful. It’s now impossible to compete in the global marketplace without broadband.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “Broadband access plays a critical role in expanding economic, health-care, educational and public safety services in underserved rural communities.”

To assist the economic development of rural America, the USDA is giving 126 recipients $1.2 billion in funding, made available because of the Recovery Act, for new broadband infrastructure projects. This will be coupled with $117 million in private investment to bring the total funding invested to $1.31 billion.

Communication companies throughout the nation are receiving federal money to construct broadband networks in rural-American territories.

In Ohio, three projects received more than $118 million in Recovery Act grants to increase broadband access (Ohio.gov):

• Horizon Telecom, $66.5 million: The project, with nearly $28.5 million in matching contributions, will allow Horizon Telecom, a Chillicothe company, to offer affordable middle-mile broadband service in 34 southern and eastern Ohio counties. The project plans to directly connect 600 community institutions to broadband. As many as 1.7 million people and 37,000 businesses will benefit. The project is expected to create more than 230 direct jobs.

• OneCommunity, $44.8 million: The project awarded to the Cleveland-based nonprofit will add nearly 1,000 miles of fiber-optic cable in 20 northeast Ohio counties. OneCommunity will connect an estimated 800 community anchor institutions, including schools, hospitals, government and public safety facilities, to the high-speed broadband network and create 200 direct jobs.

• Connected Nation, Inc. $6.9 million: This project, with more than $3.1 million in matching contributions, will allow Connected Nation to encourage broadband adoption in Ohio by deploying 2,000 new public computer workstations, upgrading 317 computer centers and conducting training sessions at community institutions throughout the state.

The United States ranks 12th in regards to worldwide broadband connectivity, with 24 percent of the population enjoying average speeds of more than 5.0 megabytes per second (mbps), compared to 74 percent in South Korea and 60 percent in Japan, according to Web analytics firm Akamai.

“Broadband is becoming the electricity of the turn of the 20th century, or the telephone in the 1930s, when federal aid brought both to rural America through cooperatives,” stated an editorial in the Bemidji Pioneer.

Examples of agricultural rural-broadband use include monitoring commodity prices and weather reports, business-to-business marketing of seed, commodities, produce and/or livestock, and utilizing GPS systems for precision farming.

"Broadband expansion is important for farmers and ranchers because it provides them the real-time information and the capacity to market their products,” said Agricultural Sec. Tom Vilsack. "The same is true for small businesses in those towns."

As rural broadband access is intensified throughout the next few years, it will be interesting to witness its impact on the progression of American agriculture.

Photo obtained from: www.broadbandsuppliers.co.uk









The Internet’s Influence on Agriculture

Technology improves and heavily influences most industries, including the once simplistic agricultural industry. Farmers today are utilizing the Internet to obtain information about weather forecasts, market reports, industry news and trends and to communicate with other agriculturalists among other uses.

“Broadband Internet access is becoming essential for both businesses and households; many compare its evolution to other technologies now considered common necessities such as cars, electricity, televisions, microwave ovens and cell phones,” said Rural Broadband At A Glance authors Peter Stenberg and Sarah Low.

According to Sternberg and Low, 13 percent of farmers were using the Internet for farm business in 1997 and use increased to 55 percent in 2007.

However, a geographic discrepancy still exists among Internet users. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cites a 9.3-percent gap between urban and rural Internet usage because of high costs and limited availability. Many rural Internet users resort to accessing the Internet at public places where broadband is available, limiting their ability to quickly and conveniently obtain information.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) developed a plan to extend Internet access to rural- American communities as required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The act provided $2.5 billion to the USDA for loans and grants to increase broadband provision in primarily rural areas by Feb. 17, 2010.

American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) supports the FCC in its efforts to extend broadband access to the rural populace, which, consequently, will significantly help rural farmers. AFBF Executive Director of Public Policy Mark Maslyn stated, “Many farmers and ranchers conduct their business operations from their homes and need access to government resources and market information available on the Internet. Therefore, affordable home-broadband access is especially important to keep American agriculture competitive in a world marketplace.”

AFBF compiled a list of recommendations for ARRA developers:
• The FCC should consider location when determining broadband availability.
• The FCC should consider price or marketplace competition in determining access to broadband services.
• Broadband should be designated a “supported service” eligible to receive support directly from the Universal Service Fund (USF), an extension of the FCC, which administers programs for high-cost companies serving rural areas, low-income consumers, rural health-care providers and schools and libraries. The USF should be used to help with long-term deployment of broadband in rural areas.
• Broadband access in rural areas should be increased using any technology including wireless.

To ensure an affordable, accessible Internet resource, Maslyn urges the FCC to consider AFBF’s suggestions while devising a national broadband strategy.

“America’s farmers and ranchers need viable rural communities for the goods and services required for their agricultural operations,” Maslyn said. The plan “…will have long-lasting impact on the lives of America’s farm and ranch families, their rural neighbors and future generations of rural Americans.”

What else should the FCC consider while developing this plan? How can other industry groups become involved to voice opinions about the plan? Will equal access to the Internet change market statistics?