High-speed internet is increasingly seen as a ‘must’ for rural areas of the United States.
US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says schools, businesses, and farms need good access to be successful in an increasingly competitive global economy.
“We still have to make sure, as we did with rural electrification, that everybody has an opportunity to take advantage of this.”
Vilsack says that means getting high-speed internet everywhere across rural America.
“Businesses can expand significantly, their network, their ability to sell, not just in their own geographic area, but literally, worldwide. Educational facilities now can link up. Oftentimes, in rural communities, it’s sometimes difficult to have the broad array of courses that young folks may have in other schools in urban centers., so now with high-speed internet, there’s an opportunity to access some of those advanced placement courses, for example.”
He says farmers also benefit from the edge the internet has given them.
“Farms benefit to the extent that they’re using any form of precision agriculture. The ability to have access to the internet is also going to give them the ability to properly market their grain or whatever it is they’re buying or selling on that particular day.”
Vilsack recently announced a 24-state, $759 million distribution of ReConnect and Infrastructure Act funding.
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