New Benton Institute study focuses on broadband in rural farming communities

A new report issued by the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society discusses its "Broadband Breakthrough" project in Illinois. During the project, Benton engaged with five rural counties to help the communities with planning and to help the communities understand the value of improved broadband access for agriculture.

The concept of precision agriculture has been adopted by farmers across the nation to increase yields for crops and reduce input costs. The report points out that precision agriculture may not be accessible to all farming operations.

New inventions and practices in agriculture in the past 90 years have allowed yield to increase by 400 percent while inputs have remained relatively flat. New inventions today often require broadband. And high-speed internet gives access to real-time data, such as market prices and weather forecasts, which are also important
for farm decision-making. Data collected by precision technology may need to be aggregated and uploaded for analysis before the information can become actionable. Yet 60 percent of U.S. farmers and ranchers do not believe they have the broadband they need to run their businesses. 

The project was supported in part by the United Soybean Board.