By Will Wright for The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for Illinois News Connection reporting for The Daily Yonder-Public News Service Collaboration

As the federal government distributes $42.5 billion to expand broadband internet access across America and its territories, some local leaders are asking themselves: How much economic impact could faster internet create?

The true dollar figure would be spread across the economy, from agriculture and small businesses to harder-to-track impacts like an increased willingness for families to relocate to rural areas.

But a report by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society estimates that, across 15 agricultural counties in Illinois, faster internet speeds could boost production of corn and soybeans by over $100 million annually. 

The report argues that faster internet will allow farmers to more precisely plant, fertilize and harvest crops — a method called “precision agriculture.” In areas with slow internet speeds, the ability to utilize precision agriculture methods are more limited, the report says. 

A tool included in the report provides estimates of increased corn and soybean revenue in each of the 15 counties.

In Bond County, Illinois, the model estimates the county could have boosted corn and soybean production by a combined $4.8 million in 2021 if they had expanded broadband internet access. 

The model relies on a paper that compares crop production data and internet speeds from 2007, 2012 and 2017, to see if better internet leads to increased farm output. The paper finds a substantial benefit to faster internet.

Relying on the projected production increases described in that paper, the Benton model suggests a possibility of millions of dollars a year in increased crop yields.

A researcher who is not affiliated with the study, Grant Gardner, an agriculture economist at the University of Kentucky, said he was skeptical of the hard-dollar projections. He said the study on which the tool is based does not account for other factors that could affect changes in yield, such as equipment improvements.

The designer of the tool, geography Professor John Kostelnick at Illinois State University, said that the model has limitations but that it can help rural leaders evaluate the broader economic gains that come with broadband expansion. Having a rational basis for including gains from agriculture could help rural communities compete for funding that will flow to states from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

“A lot of times rural areas don’t have high priority because they don’t have the population threshold,” Kostelnick said. “It’s easy to say, well, there’s just not a lot of people living there.” 

Estimating the economic gains that broadband access would bring to farmers could give some rural communities an edge in competing for funding, he said.

Bryan Stevens, a corn and soybean farmer and board president of the Hancock County Farm Bureau, who participated in the Broadband Breakthrough program, said he sees increased broadband access as a serious factor for farmers’ pocketbooks. 

“I can see how they can come up with these numbers based on efficiency,” Stevens said. “The less time I waste in the spring or in the fall … the better off I am.”

Local leaders also told the Daily Yonder access to telehealth and remote schooling also play into rural communities’ need for better internet. 

Peggy Braffet, who operates a pick-your-own orchard with her husband in Carlock, Illinois, said the internet running to her property isn’t fast enough to allow clients to pay with credit cards. 

As cash becomes less popular and more people arrive without it, Braffet said she’s worried about the amount of money she could miss out on. Increased revenue to businesses like the Braffet Berry Farm & Orchard aren’t included in the agricultural tool from the Benton Institute but nonetheless would add to the county’s increased economic output. 

The Benton Institute’s Broadband Breakthrough program, which pulled together local leaders hoping to access federal broadband expansion dollars, also provided communities with a tool to find points of higher elevation in their home counties. Those high points can be identified as important locations when making a plan of how, and where, to lay new internet connections. 

In flat regions, high points like grain elevators, water towers, and silos can be important nodes for various forms of wireless broadband technology.

Kostelnick said the economic estimate tool would likely need to be adjusted for other crops in areas less dominated by corn and soybeans. But, he said, the elevation tool should work in “just about any place.” 


Will Wright wrote this article for The Daily Yonder.

From North Dakota to Texas, the beef raised on farms goes through a production process controlled by four major companies and independent ranchers hope a proposed federal rule gives them more power to act if they feel they have been ripped off.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the plan it unveiled last week would provide clarity regarding unfair market practices under the Packers and Stockyards Act.

Aaron Shier, government relations director for the National Farmers Union, said in the past, some courts have said there needs to be proof the broader market is harmed. He noted the update addresses the problem within the long-standing law.

"It has many producer protection elements," Shier explained. "Over the long history of this law, that has gotten confused and muddled. And so, this proposed rule is meant to set the record straight on that issue."

Supporters said not only does it help prevent smaller farmers from going out of business but potentially gives consumers a fair shake on the prices they pay for meat and poultry. Industry groups like the Meat Institute are criticizing the move, saying it would set meat production back decades by encouraging litigation while actually hurting consumers.

The Institute also questioned such efforts when cattle prices are at record levels. Shier suggested there are specific examples of questionable tactics beyond current market dynamics.

"Failure to pay," Shier emphasized. "If a meatpacker, someone in the market fails to pay a producer, that is something USDA has consistently taken action on."

With more clarity under the law, policy analysts said there might be more consistency regarding court decisions when individual farmers push back against an industry giant. Shier pointed out the ultimate goal is to avoid lawsuits with this action and similar steps recently taken by the USDA setting a tone to foster market competition. A public comment period is the next step ahead of the rule becoming final.


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Family farm advocates are calling for cuts in federal subsidies to large animal feeding operations - technically known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations - in the Farm Bill being debated in Congress.

Iowa family farmers want more support for conservation programs that benefit smaller agriculture operations.

Right now, CAFOs can qualify for as much as $100 million every year to reduce some of the environmental damage they can cause.

That's taxpayer money that Barb Kalbach - a fourth-generation family farmer in Adair County, Iowa - said could be put to much better use by small family farmers on their land.

"Things like filter strips along streams and rivers," said Kalbach, "which helps with erosion, and it also helps with nitrates and other pollutants entering the water."

CAFO operators contend they use the federal money to defend against environmental damage and that they're always looking for cleaner, safer ways to raise high-quality meats while responding to increased consumer demand.

As a board member for the Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment, Kalbach said she is calling for more support of conservation programs that would help family farmers. But she said she is just as adamant that the long-standing rules governing CAFOs are changed.

"Industrial-scale factory farms, even though they are industrial scale, they do not have to go by industrial standards," said Kalbach. "They go by ag standards. And that's why we have the problem with pollution that we have. That should be addressed in the Farm Bill."

The Farm Bill saw its first action in the House Agriculture Committee May 23.

The House version of the measure also proposes $30 billion in cuts to SNAP benefits over the next decade, including $170 million in Iowa.

For 15 years, U.S. restaurant chains have pledged to stop using gestation crates for pregnant pigs but a new report from an animal welfare group showed many are still dragging their feet.

Devon Dear, institutional outreach manager for the group Animal Equality, said too many restaurants still source their pork from suppliers who lock pregnant pigs in cages so small they cannot turn around. Eleven states, not including New Mexico, have already made the practice illegal, for good reason, Dear emphasized.

"Pigs are under lots of stress in crates," Dear explained. "More stress means more antibiotics; more and more antibiotics means higher chances of antibiotic resistance, and stressed animals are less healthy."

Hog production is not a major contributor to New Mexico's ag statistics, but the state does have its fair share of fast food restaurants. Dear pointed out some big chains have moved away from crates including McDonald's, Wendy's and Chipotle. The report lists Denny's, Chick-fil-A, Dunkin and KFC among 13 companies it contends have not been aggressive enough in reducing their use of crates.

The report comes as Congress is debating an update to the Farm Bill. As proposed, Animal Equality's analysis shows it would have negative effects for animals across the board. She hopes the report will put the inhumane treatment of pregnant pigs in the spotlight.

"One thing we do want to emphasize is that these corporate commitments predate any version of this Farm Bill," Dear noted. "Many are back from 2009, 2012, so irrespective of what happens with the Farm Bill, consumers expect companies to do better for animals."

U.S. pork production is highest in Iowa, while New Mexico is better known for crops such as chili peppers, corn, pecans and onions.