Opinion: U.S. Congress Should Fund Rural Broadband Now

You may have noticed posts on social media recently marking #RuralBroadbandDay, writes Linda Safarian at Agri-Pulse. I’d like to take a moment to consider how important rural broadband is to our industry, our nation and the people who live and work in agriculture. It’s so important, in fact, that it deserves the attention of Congress.

In recent weeks, several bills have been introduced in Congress to invest in rural broadband. Legislative efforts are focused on providing federal funds and permitting to deploy broadband faster. While rural communities have been asking for federal support for years, the COVID pandemic and stay-at-home orders have both called attention to America’s urban-rural digital divide and given new urgency and momentum to this initiative.

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Cities and suburban areas enjoy widespread availability of high-speed Internet service, but much of rural America has yet to be connected. According to the Federal Communications Commission’s 2020 Broadband Deployment Report, 22.3% of Americans in rural areas and 27.3% of people living on Tribal lands lack access to high-speed internet.

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