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Broadband access critical as farmers face low commodity prices

There continues to be a digital divide in rural America and a Northwestern Indiana farmer says it’s more important now than ever for farmers to have broadband access.

Lana Wallpe farms in Benton County and says having access to broadband and phone service is the difference between being above or below her bottom line.

“We’re marketing grain and if we wait to go home to see how it ended we could have a 50 cent drop,” she says. “With the prices so low right now it’s critical we have access.”

She tells Brownfield broadband is a necessity for farmers, not a luxury.

Justin Schneider with Indiana Farm Bureau says it’s largely known there is a need for broadband in rural communities and now industry leaders need to figure out how to make it happen.

“Look for local partners, someone that’s close by or someone who is willing to go into a new area and try to figure out how we get that economic model put together that they can install that service that we can start to see some economic development from it,” he says.

Wallpe and Schneider spoke to Brownfield at the 2018 Broadband Summit.