Items Tagged with 'high-speed internet'

USDA is going to use the upcoming Census of Agriculture to find out where farmers are using precision agriculture methods and to identify parts of the country where there are gaps in high-speed internet access.

Cabinet members will be back on Capitol Hill this week, this time in the Senate, where they will face questions as lawmakers and appropriators mull 2023 budgets for the federal agencies.

In this opinion piece, Betsy Huber with the National Grange discusses the need to allocate broadband funding appropriately to reach the last mile of rural America.

President Joe Biden's $2.7 trillion infrastructure plan would address some long-standing needs in rural America with substantial new funding for roads, bridges, waterways and broadband, but the plan doesn't provide the major boost in farm conservation spending that many ag groups say is needed to get more farmers to adopt climate-smart practices.

Farmers who were facing a steep drop in government payments in 2021 will instead see a third round of coronavirus relief payments and other producers and ag processors left out of previous aid programs this year will get help this time, under a massive stimulus package and government funding bill.

Congressional leaders reach agreement with the White House on a $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that will include a new round of aid to various agriculture sectors while also ensuring the deductibility of expenses used to get forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Expanding wireless internet access in rural areas will continue to fuel the truly game-changing advances being made by precision agriculture. These include new ways to grow crops using less water, seed, pesticides and fertilizer. Made possible by a faster mobile internet, precision agriculture will continue to support new innovations like driverless tractors, robots and drones that are already increasingly handling farming tasks.