Rural Broadband Push

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in December announced with great fanfare a $600-million pilot project to build broadband infrastructure in rural America.

“High-speed internet e-connectivity is a necessity, not an amenity, vital for quality of life and economic opportunity; so, we hope that today, rural communities kick off their rural broadband project planning,” Perdue said in a ceremony at the USDA headquarters building. He explained how telecommunications companies, rural electric cooperatives and utilities, internet service providers and municipalities may apply for funding through USDA’s new ReConnect Program.

Our policy is “to connect America, not divide it,” Perdue said. “We don’t want an urban-rural divide in the country,” he continued, adding, “When are we going to stop having to drive rural kids to places where they can do homework by skimming off Wi-Fi from fast-food restaurants?”

Jannine Miller, senior adviser for rural infrastructure to Perdue, who introduced the secretary, said, “connecting America is truly transformative.”

Chad Parker, Rural Utilities Service assistant administrator for telecommunications policy, explained that USDA will make available approximately $200 million for grants with applications due to USDA by April 29, as well as $200 million for loan and grant combinations with applications due May 29, and $200 million for low-interest loans with applications due June 28.

Projects financed through this initiative must serve communities with fewer than 20,000 people and have no broadband service, or where service is slower than 10 megabits per second (Mbps) download and 1 Mbps upload, Parker said.

“Approved projects must create access speeds of at least 25 Mbps upload and 3 Mbps download,” he added. Priority will be awarded for projects that propose to deliver higher-capacity connections to rural homes, businesses and farms.

“USDA seeks to stretch these funds as far as possible by leveraging existing networks and systems without overbuilding existing services greater than 10/1 Mbps,” USDA said in a news release.

Evaluation criteria include connecting agricultural production and marketing, e-commerce, health care and education facilities.

Perdue also noted the program would be helpful to precision agriculture, which he said may be more important to increasing agricultural productivity than the changes to genetics in recent decades. Previous research by USDA has demonstrated that high-capacity broadband is critical to all aspects of rural prosperity, including the ability to grow and attract businesses, retain and develop talent, and maintain rural quality of life, USDA noted.

USDA is holding a series of online webinars and regional in-person workshops. The list of upcoming public webinars and workshops can be found at the ReConnect Program’s resource portal at reconnect.usda.gov/s.

Perdue says the need for higher-speed broadband service was one of the findings of the report to the president from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity, which he chaired.

The funding for the program came from the 2018 omnibus appropriations bill. Several House members who played a role in passing that legislation, including House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., were in the audience for the event and joined Perdue for a news conference.

Senate Agriculture Committee ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said in a statement, “I’m pleased the USDA is finally moving forward on the $600-million high-speed internet investment Congress provided in the 2018 omnibus. Expanding high-speed internet access is vital to the growth and success of our small towns and rural communities in Michigan and across the country.”

When the bill was passed in March, Stabenow noted the $600 million for rural broadband “represents the largest investment in broadband expansion since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.”

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