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The Positive Impact of Broadband on Farm Productivity

The FCC’s Office of Economics and Analytics released a new paper titled “Impact of Broadband Penetration on U.S. Farm Productivity.” This report finds that broadband availability has significant positive impacts on crop yields and other farm production metrics.

The working paper analyzes the impact of increased broadband availability in rural areas on the productivity of U.S. farms, drawing on both FCC data on broadband availability by census tract and U.S. Department of Agriculture data on agricultural productivity by county, for key row crops like corn, cotton, hay, and soybeans. The working paper finds statistically significant effects of increased broadband service, both in terms of lower costs (fertilizer, fuel, seed, etc.) and higher production (yield).

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Infinity Ultra Herbicide | Early broadleaf weed option emerges for cereal crops | 3:30

Video: Infinity Ultra Herbicide | Early broadleaf weed option emerges for cereal crops | 3:30

Early last season in Western Australia’s Great Southern region, Wellstead Farming faced a dilemma in their oat crop after growing herbicide-tolerant canola the year before. Compounded by no opportunity for knockdown herbicide applications prior to a late April planting, volunteer canola in the furrows started to smother the oat plants. Potential crop impact from early herbicide application in oats can be a concern for many growers, and volunteer herbicide-tolerant canola can be hard to control, so we visited Cropping Manager Duncan Burt to find out the story and the end result.