Rural farmers rally behind Internet bill
A bill seeking to expand universal broadband and high-speed Internet into the 6% of the state with spotty or no service has gained support from rural farmers struggling to keep business going and ship goods to customers.
The measure, LD 826, would boost the funding for Maine’s ConnectME Authority to $5 million from the current $1 million, according to the Bangor Daily News.
Organic specialty potato farmer Jim Gerritsen, who owns and operates Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater with his wife, told the newspaper his business depends heavily on technology to keep records, take orders and other functions.
“We upload and download pictures, produce mail order catalogs, use social media, produce a newsletter,” he said, adding that rural farmers and businesses are hampered by not having reliable high-speed Internet.
Gerritsen is credited as being a major catalyst for the bill after seeing the completion in 2012 of Three Ring Binder high-speed network project, seen as a growth engine for Maine’s economy.
ConnectME is a unit of Maine’s state government that aims to bring broadband to everyone.
LD 826 is being sponsored by Rep. Robert Saucier of Presque Isle. A public hearing is planned at the State House in Augusta on April 2.
President Barack Obama also made a push for rural Internet in a speech in mid-January, according to a CNET report.
Source: Bangor Daily News
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