QCBJ Newsmakers: ‘Fiber for Farms’ progresses at different speeds

This story is part of the QCBJ’s Newsmakers edition. This year-end wrap-up from the staff of the Quad Cities Regional Business Journal includes some of the biggest stories we brought you in 2023. It's also a tradition by our parent company, Corridor Media Group, based in North Liberty, Iowa. This story was originally published in January 2023.

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Bill Bodine borrows a lyric from a Van Halen song to describe the state of modern-day farming. “The simple life ain’t so simple anymore,” said Mr. Bodine, the director of business and regulatory affairs for the Illinois Farm Bureau. “I don’t know if you’ve been in a combine cab lately, but city dwellers may not understand the amount of technology that’s involved in agriculture today. Precision agriculture tools, GPS guidance systems for equipment, the amount of data our farmers are collecting to make sure they’re putting the right inputs in the right locations in the field to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly — that all takes technology.” He added: “And whether it’s cattle, pigs or chicken — those livestock operations are hooked up to tech as well to ensure the environment for the animals is comfortable — and can be monitored and managed remotely. We even have robotic milking systems in dairy farms today.”

So, same as any business these days, farmers require broadband internet access for their farms to function, Mr. Bodine said. And as witnessed by recent grant funding figures, Iowa and Illinois’ state governments have joined the federal government in recognizing the necessity of delivering better internet service to unserved and underserved rural areas. Iowa is on its seventh round of matching grants, said Dave Duncan, CEO of the Iowa Communications Alliance — a nonprofit trade association advocating for local small town providers and their essential role in helping fix the problem. The most recent Iowa grants in January 2022 featured $210 million allocated using federal funds through the state system, Mr. Duncan said. The sixth round of matching grants in September 2021 also included $97.5 million in state-only funds, he added. Across the Mississippi River, Connect Illinois has been the state-funded program since 2019, with $350 million in matching grants available. However, Mr. Bodine said, that program has been put on pause while making changes to its administrative rules. “So, we’re anxious to see that get restarted,” he added. Federally, a fourth round of funding is expected in early 2023 after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Reconnect program closed its most recent application process in early November. The first three rounds of grants and loans for rural internet began the year after Congress passed an infrastructure law in 2018. The awards currently total $3.1 billion — including in October 2022 when $48 million went to a pair of Illinois projects and $5.6 million was devoted to two Iowa projects. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed in 2022 by Congress, also provides $42.45 billion from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to expand high-speed internet access across the nation. Awards from that federal program called BEAD — Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment — are forthcoming, said Mr. Bodine. Mr. Duncan added that the Federal Communications Commission also continues to work on ways to improve funding for the rural providers for the broadband build through the Universal Service Fund. Some states and communities also have earmarked some of their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies from COVID-19 relief to the cause. “All of that really shows a lot of focus by policymakers on really trying to get as many people connected as we can and as fast as possible,” said Mr. Duncan, who represents nearly 120 local smalltown broadband providers. Iowa set an aggressive goal for 100% coverage statewide by 2026. Illinois is targeting 2028 at the earliest. He said the companies he represents are collectively in more than 700 Iowa communities — and more than 500 of those towns have fiber to the home, “which really is the best, fastest way to deploy broadband, and the most future proof as well.”  However, “much still needs to be done,” cautioned Mr. Duncan, whose coalition excludes national providers such as AT&T, CenturyLink, Verizon and Mediacom. “And it is expensive to keep expanding especially in rural areas, and that’s why these state and federal programs are so important,” he said. “The main barrier to getting connected is the high cost of fiber optics and the low return on investment when you’re trying to deploy in an area that’s not heavily populated,” he added. Our companies have been expanding their broadband offerings literally for a couple of decades. But it has been kind of a slow and incremental increase because it’s so expensive.” A popular and cost-effective option to running fiber to farms right now is the use of ever-improving fixed wireless technology. Internet connectivity at slower speeds — but still enough capacity for most operators — is delivered via the transmission of radio signals from a base station mounted at high elevation on cell towers, grain silos or other tall structures. “We’re technology neutral as an organization,” Mr. Bodine said. “What we want to see is quality and affordable broadband service provided to our members. So, it doesn’t matter if it’s fiber or fixed wireless. We’ll take whatever works.” The federal BEAD program, which runs for five years, is in the process of finishing a federal map to determine eligibility. “But they can’t really start the bidding process until they finish (that),” Mr. Duncan said. The two local states are among many others updating their own coverage maps with the most up-to-date data, Mr. Bodine said, so they can fight for funding by challenging the accuracy of the federal version. Mr. Duncan said Iowa’s map alone is on its fifth generation with the addition of an address-specific, location-by-location accounting of actual rooftops with or without service. “Everybody is working to get their coverage maps updated because that is going to help determine what is left to be done and how many more locations need to be served,” Mr. Bodine said. “Obviously, we want to see that map be as accurate as possible, because that’s going to be one of the deciding factors on how much federal funding the state can receive, so we’ve been encouraging our members to go out and check that map and make sure that the information they have on their location is accurate — especially if they’re in an unserved or underserved area, because those are the areas that are going to see funding so they can get service,” he added.

NEWSMAKERS UPDATE

‘Fiber for Farms’ growing with federal funding

Rural broadband efforts continued making significant strides on the state and local levels in 2023. For instance, Central Scott Technologies completed its fiber-optic network in Eldridge, reported Mark Harvey, the president/CEO of the north Scott County-based internet provider. “The construction crew for our rural build started last week,” Mr. Harvey told the QCBJ in late October, “and will continue as long as weather permits and start again in the spring.” Geneseo Communications also declared the City of Geneseo and the Wolf Road Corridor certified gigabit communities in September after completing its fiber optic expansion in the area – providing every resident and business access to the fastest-possible internet speeds. Mercer County Better Together also is bidding through the state of Illinois for $40 million in funding from the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program (BEAD) for a multi-company buildout in the coming years. Statewide, Iowa awarded another $148 million in the eighth round of Empower Rural Iowa Broadband grants on Oct. 30. Of the 91 applications totaling $330 million, 39 projects representing 47 counties were approved – including $1,990,455 to Liberty Communications in West Liberty, the only grant in the Quad Cities area region.  This round emphasized Iowa’s newly established Broadband Intervention Zones, with 96 areas deemed most in need through 55 public meetings around the state in the last year. The Empower funding is from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Capital Projects Fund. More federal funding is forthcoming in both Iowa and Illinois from the $42.45 billion BEAD program, which is part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress in 2021. Illinois is earmarked for $1 billion while Iowa receives $415 million. “All the easiest locations in Iowa have been picked up, leaving the really tough ones,” said Dave Duncan, CEO of the Iowa Communications Alliance. “BEAD requires every state to connect every single unserved location. It's going to be interesting to see if that's even possible or not in every state.” — Steve Tappa