Sunny farm fields and winding roads. The sound of popcorn popping and the smell of grilled hot dogs. Huge planters, tractors and combines.
It doesn’t get much more rural than unincorporated Vanderburgh County in Indiana.
So, it may surprise you that in an agriculture-driven place like this, AT&T just finished a project that’s bringing high-speed fiber to 20,000 new homes, farms and businesses. It’s a project that was completed on time, and on budget, in just two years.
And it all came together because AT&T and the county collaborated to make it happen.
The county used $9.9 million dollars in federal funding, and AT&T contributed $29.7 million, leading to broadband speeds that you once would only think imaginable in the city.
What does this mean for the agriculture community? For starters:
- According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), faster, more reliable rural broadband could equal more profitable operations for U.S. farm businesses.
- A recently released working paper from the FCC found that boosting internet speeds is associated with better crop yields.
- Corn yields increased by 3.6 percent, soybean yields went up by 3.8 percent and farm operating expenses decreased by 2.4 percent when U.S. farmers could access high-speed internet services.1
AT&T Fiber is connecting the people of this rural county to greater possibility. It’s a model for communities of all sizes in the country, and we’re so proud to have worked with Vanderburgh County leaders to bring it to the finish line.
In this short video, see why this project worked so well for residents and local leaders in this piece of rural America.
1 Improved Rural Broadband Would Increase Crop Yields, Farm Profits
