A Case for Rural Broadband

A recent report from the Agriculture department shows full implementation of rural broadband could increase farm and ranch production.

It's called "A Case for Rural Broadband" from the USDA.

Megan Nelson with the American Farm Bureau says the report shows policy makers the importance of fully implementing rural broadband.

"This is showing an approximate 18 percent of total production could be added to the agriculture sector if these technologies were meeting producer demand. However, an important thing to realize, too, is that these estimations are illustrating more for policy makers and educating them on some of these amazing technologies that are helping producers today."

The big question is - who benefits - and how much?

"Livestock and dairies stand to benefit the most with about $20.7 billion added annually to this sector. Row crops stands to benefit about $13.7 billion annually, this is mainly yield improvement and reduced costs by limiting the number of inputs put on the fields."

They're outlining some of the key priorities, which is full broadband deployment in addition to creating an environment for these innovations to be created.