The state’s Broadband Initiative, led by the Bureau of Information and Telecommunications (BIT), has partnered with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Field Office in South Dakota to survey agriculture producers across the state for the second time to assess the usage of high-speed broadband Internet services in rural areas.
“Based on comments received from the 2012 survey, we learned
many respondents were just beginning to subscribe to Internet services” said David
Zolnowsky, BIT Commissioner. “This is the primary reason we are again asking
for participation in the survey; we want to measure changes in the availability
and utilization of high speed Internet services and assess the impact these
services have on our agriculture community and rural areas across the state.”
Approximately 6,500 surveys were
mailed this month to South Dakota agriculture producers encouraging
participation in this Internet Usage Survey. The survey requests information
from agriculture producers asking if they subscribe to an Internet service, how
they utilize the service and how availability, speed and affordability impact
their utilization. The results of the survey will guide state policy decisions
encouraging providers to expand areas of service or enhance the quality of high
speed broadband Internet services in South Dakota.
“High-speed broadband Internet services can expand educational
opportunities, improve public safety, enhance health care delivery and bring
economic growth to the region. Utilization also improves producers’ ability to
market livestock, forage and grain, providing a competitive advantage and improving
the state’s rural economy,” stated Zolnowsky.
“South Dakota has a wide variety of
tech savvy agriculture producers who are managing small to multi-million dollar
operations over their slow data-capable cell phones and it is our goal to fix
that and to give them the competitive advantages to grow and continue their
operations in the most rural areas of the state,” said Lucas Lentsch, Secretary
for the South Dakota Department of Agriculture. “We highly encourage farmers
and ranchers to complete the survey; we want to hear from them.”
The ultimate goal of the Broadband
Initiative is to increase the availability of high-speed broadband Internet to
all of South Dakota with an emphasis on rural areas. Assessment of the
availability and utilization of high speed broadband Internet services within agriculture,
the primary economic driver across the state, is extremely important to this
project. If producers did not receive the survey or misplaced it, they can
request a copy be mailed to them by calling 1.800.338.2557 or they can simply
take the survey online by visiting http://broadband.sd.gov/AgricultureSurvey.aspx.
Survey results will be available online in the spring.
For more information on the
Broadband Initiative, please connect with us on Twitter @broadbandsd, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/BroadbandSD?ref=ts&v=wall
or on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/broadbandsd.