2007 U.S. Census of Agriculture

When it Comes to Broadband Access, Rural West is Doing Dandy

By Courtney Lowery, 2-22-09

Farmers in the West have the better access than the rest of the nation to high-speed Internet, according to data from the 2007 Census of Agriculture.

Our friends over at the Daily Yonder crunched the numbers and parse the data nicely here.

The nut is this:

In 2002, the Census found that half the farms in the country were connected to the Internet in some way (broadband or dial-up). By 2007, the percentage of farms with some kind of Internet connection inched up to 56.5%.

However, only 33% of farms in 2007 had broadband connections.

But, in the rural West, that number was slightly higher. The West led the nation with 38 percent of farms reporting access to high-speed Internet. (See graphic)

Colorado had the highest percentage of farms with broadband access with 47.9 percent statewide—45.4 percent higher than the national average. In the rural category, 39 percent of farms had broadband access. In urban conties, 52.4 percent did and in suburban, the number was 40.5 percent.

Wyoming comes in second with 42 percent access statewide and an even playing field for urban and rural farmers.

Idaho also wasn’t bad with 39.9 percent statewide having access to broadband and there, urban farmers did better at 32 percent more than the national average. 

In Montana, rural farmers had as good or better access to broadband but the suburban farmers didn’t do so well. Only 26.6 percent of farmers in suburban counties had access—19.4 percent below the national average.

And finally, in New Mexico, the highlight is actually a lowlight. It was the only state in the West (which in this data includes Hawaii, California and Alaska) that was lower than the national average. Statewide, 43.2 percent of farmers had access to broadband, 10.4 percent below the national average. Urban farmers did OK with 36.4 percent, but rural farmers were 13.2 percent behind the national average and suburban farmers were 32 percent behind.

Click here for the full state-by-state breakdown.

Nationally, there are large discrepancies in high-speed access and from rural to urban.

31.3% of farms in rural counties had broadband connections. In urban counties, nearly 40% of farm operators had high speed Internet connections.

Also, “recreation” counties (think Pitkin in Colorado, (Aspen), Nantucket in Massachusetts and Hood River in Oregon) and counties with larger (and hypothetically wealthier) farms did the best in access.

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