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Adrianne Furniss, executive director of the Benton Institute for
Broadband and Society, said economic development is suffering in
rural communities.
The story we hear in Illinois rural counties is that outside of
the county seat, broadband is pretty lousy, Furniss said.
Precision agricultural tools like sensors for water management
depend on broadband for implementation, Furniss said.
The kind of investments that farmers are making in equipment
the kind of sensors that would help them get real time data that
can help them make decisions
are not possible without robust
broadband, Furniss said.
The Illinois Soybean Association has partnered with the Benton
Institute, Illinois State University, the Illinois Office of
Broadband, the University of Illinois Extension and the Illinois
Innovation Network to create a new initiative called Broadband
Breakthrough: Infrastructure Planning for Rural Farming
Communities.
Broadband Breakthrough was designed by a research team from the
ISU Department of Geography, Geology and Environment in
collaboration with ISA, Benton and the other partners.
The first cohort of Broadband Breakthrough, underwritten by the
United Soybean Board, will focus on five rural communities from
a pool of 14 eligible counties: Bond, Christian, Clinton, Edgar,
Hancock, Henry, Iroquois, Kankakee, LaSalle, Macoupin, McLean,
Ogle, Washington and Wayne.
The Broadband Breakthrough Planning Tool can help farmers and
communities leverage broadband funding allocated in the federal
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
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