By STAN MADDUX

Indiana Correspondent

WASHINGTON D.C. — A new report from USDA reveals that a number of farms equipped with both sufficient broadband and precision agriculture technology could be like rocket fuel for the nation’s economy.

Based on the findings, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue called broadband and precision agriculture technology “critical components for creating vital access to world-class resources, tools, and opportunity for America’s farmers, ranchers, foresters, and producers.”

The report unveiled by Perdue on April 30 shows at least $47 billion in national economic benefits could result annually from rural e-Connectivity and Next Generation Precision Agriculture Technology. A Case for Rural Broadband: Insights on Rural Broadband Infrastructure and Next Generation Precision Agriculture Technology is the report described by Perdue as “groundbreaking.”

Chris Hurt, an agricultural economist at Purdue University, said the report underscores the need for action akin to the 1930s when it took the government stepping in to help utilities extend power lines to areas without the customer base to support electrical infrastructure.

He said the potential of technology to produce optimum yields at the lowest possible cost is challenged without broadband or internet fast enough to adequately process and use the data produced by the technology. Farmers lacking such capability, along with families and children in underserved areas, risk being at a competitive disadvantage.

“If you can’t use that information from your own farm, you’re largely locked out of that opportunity,” Hurt pointed out.

Perdue is using the findings to further his push to fill rural broadband gaps. The $47 billion in economic benefits, equal to about 18 percent of total agriculture production, was based on having broadband and digital technologies at levels meeting producer demand, according to the report.

More than one-third of the economic gains would be strictly from having reliable high-speed internet. Hurt said the economic benefits outlined in the report are not just from higher farm incomes but spending exchanged from the purchase of consumer goods like pickup trucks made possible from those extra dollars.

“It is a significant amount and, obviously, rural broadband is vastly important beyond just the farm economy,” he said.

According to USDA, the report provides the first data on the potential impact of having both forms of interdependent technology in full use. Extending rural broadband is happening, and the push for doing it at a faster pace is picking up momentum.

Currently, USDA is making available at least $600 million approved by Congress in 2018 for rural broadband projects. The funding is broken down equally into grants, loan and grant combinations, and low-interest loans.

According to USDA, the deadline to apply for financial assistance under the ReConnect program is May 31 for projects seeking federal grants only, while June 21 is the deadline for seeking combination federal loans and grants. Requests for low-interest federal loans are due by July 12. Applications can be submitted through reconnect.usda.gov

The funding more than doubles the amount previously available through USDA’s longstanding broadband programs. “We at USDA are very excited to begin accepting applications for funds from this new and innovative program,” Perdue said.

Extending broadband was included in President Trump’s directives for promoting agriculture and growing prosperity in rural America.

Hurt said farmers without broadband are kind of in the same position as farmers without electricity until they were finally reached with power lines. “Those farms might still be milking cows by hand or doing something else. They probably wouldn’t be farming,” he said.