Forty acres, a mule and a fast broadband connection

To the tractors, plows, silos and combines, add a computer and Internet access. It’s no longer really optional. As Christopher Weber writes in Modern Farmer, “For the farmers of today, a fast Internet connection is just as important as the railroad was a century ago, connecting to farmers in the far reaches of the heartland to the rest of the world.”

Farmers may be as tech savvy as any other group in America. And for those who aren’t, or want to improve, said Weber, “Social media classes have sprouted all over the country for farmers, who, like every other sentient being these days, need to build their brands.”

Aside from the obvious things as checking the weather, the prices and the relevant news, there’s buying and selling.

For livestock farmers wishing to buy or sell, online auctions extend the audience to anyone with a broadband connection. Take the case of South Dakota rancher VeaBea Thomas: “During calving season, sometimes people can’t leave home to come to an auction. But with the auction being online, they can still participate. It gets us new bidders as well as extra bids.” And adds hundreds of dollars to the price.

Farmers can also search for buyers of future crops, adding dollars to their income stream. A rural Internet provider told Weber, “farmers are spending as much time on their computers as they are in their fields.”

Sometimes for the weather reports at harvest time. By checking real-time reports, either on a home broadband or on a smartphone in the field, farmers can use the best opportunity to harvest – even in periods of bad weather.

Unsurprisingly, though, farmers often have the same Internet difficulty as other rural residents – slow connections. As one report after another has shown, many rural areas have either slow broadband, or none at all.

Brett Spader, director of operations for DV Auction, complained about “dial-up deserts” in remote areas of Western states like Nevada, Montana, and Colorado where farmers simple can’t watch online auctions. Said Weber, “For him, those are lost customers.”

Speed Matters urges public-private partnerships to bring high-speed broadband to America's rural areas.

Why Rural Broadband Means You Can Now Buy a Bull Online (Modern Farmer, Oct. 2, 2013)