Many Americans living in rural areas do not have access to the Internet via a high-speed, broadband connection, which they both need and deserve. It is not at all unusual for a farmer to be using the most sophisticated GPS tracking hardware and software to efficiently work his or her fields, only to go back to their office and be forced to use a slow dial-up connection to check prices, shipping, and the thousand other pieces of information they need to profitably run their business. This is all because those of us in rural areas don’t have access to broadband and are too far out of town for a 3G mobile phone signal.
As we move into the digital age, farmers that have access to high-speed Internet connections are able to file acreage, yield reports with the government and crop insurance, download soil maps and a whole host of other activities that can cut down a day’s worth of travel to just a few minutes spent on the web. Other uses include monitoring soil moisture, remote control of irrigation systems, and using webcams to help monitor livestock. Perhaps one of the most novel uses of the Internet by farmers is using social networks to help overcome the great social barriers between urban and rural residents around the country. A quick search on Twitter or Facebook quickly reveals several farmers and ranchers posting information about their daily activities, from discussions of growing crops to caring for their livestock.
But it is not just farmers who are being forced to do their work with 20th century tools. In many rural communities across America – in the Great Plains, across the South, through the Southwest, to the Rocky Mountains and Upper Midwest – our school children are working at a great disadvantage if they have no service or only dial-up service to the Internet when compared to their urban peers.
Web pages are so filled with photos, charts, drawings, and embedded videos that the ability to do the high-level research that is expected of today’s students competing for precious spots in colleges and universities requires a broadband connection. Add to that the very real issue of tying up what may well be the family’s only phone line for hours at a time will quickly be discouraged by siblings, if not parents.
The things we take for granted that we can and do accomplish on the web – everything from booking a flight, to downloading a movie – requires a broadband connection.
As the Federal government and private industry begin to deal with the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan, they need to keep in mind that much of what we eat or drink; much of what we need to drive our cars and cook our food is produced in rural America – and the folks who live there should not be treated as second-class citizens of the Internet.
By Mike Haley, the owner of Haley Farms (http://www.haley-farms.com/)
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