Better Farming - January 2017

Better Farming

January 2017

AteToday?

Thank a Farmer.

HIGH-SPEED

INTERNET

early 10 years ago, Helen

Hambly Odame, a professor

at the University of Guelph,

published a paper that started with

the statement: “The promise of

high-speed participation in Canada’s

knowledge economy has not been

achieved in rural Canada.”

Today, while much progress has

been made, that statement still rings

true.

In parts of Ontario, however, the

situation appears to be at a turning

point. Over the last couple of years,

progress has been made through the

announcement of new programs, says

Clark Somerville, president of the

Federation of Canadian Municipali-

ties.

Stakeholders are taking an active

part in the realization of rural broad-

band, and the future looks bright.

Indeed, as the case of rural broad-

band expansion in Ontario shows, the

benefits of rural broadband have been

recognized. Folks are actively working

to bring improvements in this

technology not only to farm business-

es but to rural communities as well.

Hambly Odame and her team at

the R2B2 project (Regional and Rural

Broadband Project) are part of that

effort. Their project seeks to “assess

existing policy opportunities and

potential economic and social

outcomes of broadband infrastruc-

ture, applications and adoption in SW

Ontario,” says the project’s website.

There is still some distance to go

and are some hurdles to overcome,

though, before true, 21st-century

connectivity can be realized in the

region. In particular, one problem is

that many farmers don’t always know

how poor their service actually is.

Peter Gredig, farmer and

co-founder of AgNition, an agricul-

turally-oriented software company,

said that “farmers need to become

better educated on the speed that they

have available to them … and how

poor it is in many cases.”

Here’s a good test that he offers to

readers: “if every device in the house

must be turned off or idled in order to

watch a show on Netflix, you are

definitely in the slow lane of the

information highway.”

Struggling with the Internet

It doesn’t take long to find farmers

who have experienced problems with

their Internet. Discussions about the

lack of access are as common as

discussions about the weather, and

sometimes they overlap.

Roy and Heather Bloomfield of

Middlesex County agree that the

weather and the Internet are interre-

lated.

The Bloomfields run Rotherfield

Farms, a cash-crop operation just

north of London. They use the

Internet to advertise the produce they

sell to local families.

More importantly, they use the

Internet to get news about the

weather. “As farmers,” they say,

“monitoring the weather is one of the

main usages of the Internet” since it

helps them plan field operations.

But that very same weather can

disrupt their ability to use it. “Any

strong winds, rain or snow can cause

our receiver dish to have issues and

knock out our service,” they add.

So it’s a catch-22. Farmers need to

know about the weather, but that very

same weather can make them unable

to find out about it.

Disruptions caused by weather are

not the only problem that farmers

discover. Cost is also an issue.

Albert Witteveen notes a huge

discrepancy in costs. Witteveen

operates a farm in Smithville, in the

Niagara Region, but also owns

student rental housing in Guelph.

To get unlimited, high-speed

Internet in the city, he pays only $52 a

month. And there is no installation

cost.

But to get high-speed at the farm

in Smithville, he would have to pay

$150 per month and have to install a

tower at his own expense. “Some

farmers are lucky to have been chosen

for a tower,” he said in an email to

Better Farming

, since it can “offset

their cost of this service.” But others

aren’t so lucky.

Peter Vani of Fenwick knows this

situation all too well. “My wife and I,”

he said in an email to

Better Farming

“have been struggling for the last

three years trying to get any Internet

at our farm, never mind high speed.”

Recently, Vani got some good

news: high speed was now available

Middlesex Centre, just north of London, is lucky to be home to several

cell towers fromwhich rural people can access mobile Internet.

Broadband, however, would increase connectivity, freeing

people from the download caps placed on many mobile contracts.