14 The Business of Ontario Agriculture Better Farming January 2017 HIGH-SPEED INTERNET agriculture.newholland.com/us Bob Mark New Holland Sales Ltd. Campbellford • 705-653-3700 Bob Mark New Holland Sales Ltd. Lindsay • 705-324-2221 Bob Mark New Holland Sales Ltd. Sunderland • 705-357-3121 Delta Power Equipment Mitchell • 519-348-8467 Delta Power Equipment St. Marys • 519-349-2180 Delta Power Equipment Tavistock • 519-655-2441 Delta Power Equipment Tilbury • 519-682-9090 Delta Power Equipment Watford • 519-849-2744 Ebert Welding Ltd. New Liskeard • 705-647-6896 ESM Farm Equipment Ltd. Wallenstein • 519-669-5176 Halnor Farm Equipment Ltd. Waterford • 519-443-8622 Maxville Farm Machinery Ltd. Maxville • 613-527-2834 McCauley Equipment Sales Orillia • 705-325-4424 McGavin Farm Supply Ltd. Walton • 519-887-6365 Oneida New Holland Caledonia • 905-765-5011 Regional Tractor Sales Ltd. Freelton • 905-659-1094 Richards Equipment Inc. Barrie • 705-721-5530 Robert’s Farm Equipment Sales, Inc. Chesley • 519-363-3192 Robert’s Farm Equipment Sales, Inc. Lucknow • 519-529-7995 Robert’s Farm Equipment Sales, Inc. Mount Forest • 519-323-2755 Smiths Farm Equipment (Jasper) Ltd. Jasper • 613-283-1758 St. Catharines New Holland Ltd. St. Catharines • 905-688-5160 Stewart’s Equipment Erin • 519-833-9616 Weagant Farm Supplies Ltd. Winchester • 613-774-2887 DEMAND THE BEST – DEMAND NEW HOLLAND EQUIPPED FOR A NEWWORLD ™ Internet fast facts While some farmers have received better Internet access in recent years, many have not. Across Ontario, there is significant regional disparity. Helen Hambly Odame at the University of Guelph has collected data reported by farmers on their average download speeds. She has seen reports of down- load speeds as high as 22.0 and 26.0 megabits per second (Mbps) in Hanover and Glencoe, respectively, but also as low as 2.2 and 2.4 Mbps in places such as Stevensville and Smithville, in the Niagara region. Near major conduit areas, espe- cially along Highway 401, farmers may get between 5.0 and 10.0 Mbps “down.” But most connectivity, she says, is wireless. It is between 1.5 and 3.0 Mbps for downloading and 1.0 Mbps for uploading. Compare that to the 20.0 or 25.0 Mbps download speeds available to urban residents, and you get a sense of the limits being placed on farmers. She notes that quality of service is an additional issue. While down- load speeds illustrate connectivity, there are often multiple users of the farm’s Internet. If three people are using an Internet connection that transmits only 3.0 Mbps, each individual gets 1.0 Mbps. None of them will be watching Netflix any time soon. And they likely won’t be able to upload videos or high-resolution images to adver- tise crops or farm technology for e-farm-gate sales either. BF Helen Hambly Odame “because of a new tower that has been constructed in the area.” The bad news: Vani has “to put up a tower … to communicate with it at (his) additional cost.” To Vani, the “Internet is an extremely valuable tool,” but the struggle to get it, and pay for it, makes things difficult. These farmers are not alone in their struggles. Hambly Odame at the University of Guelph says she has found in her research that early investors in precision ag technologies are not able to use them to their fullest capacity because essential components are being turned off as connectivity (or the lack of it) limits their use. One-third of these technologies have had parts turn off on southwest- ern Ontario’s farmers, she says, even on very expensive equipment. Similarly, the benefit of drones on farms has not been fully discovered in the region because connectivity is low. Opportunities are being lost