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Rural Development Reconnect reaches new milestone

The Deputy Undersecretary for USDA Rural Development says the last of the funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has been awarded from their agency.

Farah Ahmad tells Brownfield USDA’s ReConnect Program has received $2.3 billion since 2021 to expand high-speed internet in rural areas.

“Whether you are a small business on Main Street in your rural county, or you’re a farmer engaging in precision agriculture, or a rural hospital, just trying to connect to your patients that may be hundreds of miles away, high-speed Internet is going to help grow those possibilities and grow more economic opportunities,” she says.

She says the ReConnect program has increased highspeed access to more than 140,000 households in rural communities, including 17,000 farms.

“We let rural communities come to us and say what the highspeed Internet infrastructure is that makes sense because there are differences depending on your geography and your terrain,” she says.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dedicated $65 billion to broadband expansion.