A sizable portion of America’s largest farmers are unable to take advantage of many applications and services on the internet because they don’t have a connection or it is of poor quality, according to a Purdue University survey released this week. The gap in access exists at the same time the sector is embracing precision agriculture technology, such as GPS guidance of tractors and combines.
Twelve percent of farmers/ranchers surveyed said they had no internet access and 16% reported a poor-quality connection. The results are based on a telephone survey of 400 operators with production worth at least $500,000 a year. USDA data say the largest 7.4% of U.S. farms top $500,000 in annual sales.
The infrastructure bill signed by the President last fall included $65 billion to improve internet services for rural areas, low-income families and tribal communities. Most of the money would be distributed in grants to states. The White House says the USDA will issue a funding opportunity notice this year for nearly $2 billion through its ReConnect program for deployment of rural high-speed internet.
“Just three out of ten respondents said they had high quality internet access followed by 41% who chose moderate quality,” said Purdue economists James Mintert and Michael Langemeier, who oversaw the survey.
Half of the farmers in the biggest corn, soybean and wheat states and a quarter of farmers nationwide have embraced precision agriculture. This includes the use of global positioning (GPS) guidance systems, GPS yield monitoring and soil mapping, variable rate input applications, use of drones for scouting fields or monitoring livestock, electronic tagging, precision feeding, robotic milking, etc.
Some 82% of farms across the country had internet access in 2021, up from 75% in 2019. Half of the farms had a broadband connection and 70% used a cellular data plan for access. Two-thirds of farms had a desktop or laptop computer and 77% had a smartphone.
Rural adults are less likely than suburban adults to have broadband service at home and are less likely than urban adults to own a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer, according to the Pew Research Center last August. The digital divide between urban and rural Americans has narrowed since 2016, and 72 percent of rural residents have broadband at home, compared to 79% of suburban residents.
Even though rural areas are more wired today than in the past, current infrastructure does not support consistently dependable broadband access in many rural areas. This lack of reliable high-speed internet access came to the forefront of discussions about navigating remote work and school during the coronavirus pandemic.
EDITOR’S TAKE:
Good news and bad news based on this survey. First, the bad news – some of the nation’s largest farmers have poor or no internet service. This is terrible in a technology age where agriculture generates more and more data each year. That data is used to make agronomic, economic, marketing and environmental decisions. The good news – the situation is improving, albeit slowly. There are large investments, public and private, that will be used to fix the gaps and get farmers/ranchers up-to-speed (pun intended). The really good news – you can help solve this issue! How – by promoting AgPack partner Viasat. Yes, as part of the AgPack package farmers/ranchers receive when they purchase or lease a qualifying truck at your dealership, they have access to satellite internet specifically designed to reach remote locations. Important to note - Viasat is used by our military in remote areas and now it’s available through you!
