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USB study pinpoints rural broadband recommendations

A study commissioned by the United Soybean Board shows 15 steps needed for U.S. farmers to have critical access to fast, affordable, reliable broadband.

USB Treasurer Meagan Kaiser of Missouri says it’s necessary for sustainability.

“One was to adopt high performance standards for upload speeds to reflect the needs for precision agriculture. I think one of the things that we talk about in sustainability is that precision agriculture is such a large element of that.”

The study by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society says to meet the growing demand among farmers for higher speeds, networks must be capable of 100 megabites per second service upstream and down.

“This study also encourages deep cyber buildout and then addressing gaps in mapping. A lot of rural areas aren’t really mapped very well to show where the gaps are.”

Without a reliable internet connection, Kaiser says data collection and its use is severely limited. Kaiser is a farmer and soil scientist.