Rural internet use

There has been a huge push by the USDA and many other federal agencies, to dramatically increase internet access in rural communities. You might be surprised at the amount of progress that has been made. USDA’s every other year look at farm technology use reveals. Speaker2: Overall internet access. 85% of farms this year reported that they have internet access. That's actually equal to what we saw back in 23. Speaker1: Yet, as Lance Honig of the National Agricultural Statistics Service points out, there are indications how growers use the internet has changed over the past two years. A specific trend of note. Speaker2: 50% reported that they actually purchased inputs for their operation on the web. That's up 18 percentage points from what they reported back in 2023. Speaker1: And for marketing activities for their farm operation. Speaker2: 29% said, yeah, I go on the web to do that. That's up six points from 2023. So even though overall access hasn't necessarily changed, what they're doing is certainly moving forward. Based on what I see every single day, whether it’s on the street grocery store, at the Department of Motor Vehicles…anywhere…everyone I look at is glued to their phone. What are they preoccupied with???Something on the internet.