I’m not sure where you would come down on the idea of stimulus money being spent on the continuing development of rural broadband but I’m all for it. Thanks to rural_broadband’s heads up on Twitter I thought you’d be interested in these two stories.
The first one is from NPR, “Stimulus Stirs Debate Over Rural Broadband Access.” In it they quote former FCC Economist, Michael Katz. He’s obviously a city boy who doesn’t have a clue. Here’s an example of what I mean.
But he also spoke of rural places as environmentally hostile, energy inefficient and even weak in innovation, simply because rural people are spread out across the landscape.
Dude, could you possibly show more of your arrogance and ignorance? Fortunately this is a pretty well-balanced story as the following shows.
Rural advocates say high-speed access is a necessity in a global economy, and a critical part of economic revival and survival for rural places. Obama agreed during his campaign for president. His rural platform included this plank:
“Barack Obama will ensure that our rural Americans have access to modern communications infrastructure. He will … [promote] affordable broadband coverage across rural America as well.”
Let’s hope he keeps that pledge.
Then there’s another story pointed to in this article which is on the Daily Yonder titled, “Broadband Connection Highs and Lows Across Rural America.” The article pulls data from the Census of Agriculture and PEW Internet surveys. We’ve pointed to them before but this article has some nice charts and summaries of the data like the following.
Over 2.2 million farms were included in the U.S. Department of Agriculture Census, which is conducted every five years. 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.
In a chart showing internet and broadband percentage for farmers by state it was interesting to see that Connecticut had the highest percentage of farmers with broadband and Mississippi had the lowest. We need to get some of that broadband stimulus money going in the deep south!
In just over a week corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum growers will be getting together in Grapevine, TX for 
Here are a few parting shots and thoughts from the 
Then we have the “Greenberry,” Barry Nelson’s John Deere green-skinned Blackberry. Not a custom skin – Barry says he bought it at an airport.
Of course we have the obligatory 
Finally, Agri-Talk host Mike Adams’ new iPhone, which he went out and bought in Louisville after seeing our friend Gene Hemphill of New Holland use his. Mike said that if Gene could do it, he certainly could! He bought it Thursday evening and said Friday that he already loved it. Chuck will be very proud to see another iPhone convert!
Katie Sheets is a 
Several Twitter-heads met up in the media room at the National Farm Machinery Show on Thursday for a Tweet Up. 
Katie Sheets with 
Ed Barry with 
This ain’t your great-grandaddy’s tractor – even if it might look like it!
Comfort and safety are features in the new tractor, with a shiny rollover bar and a cushioned seat modeled after the much less comfortable steel pan seats of the original.
Size definitely matters at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville and 
“We have a strong history in combines,” he said. “Model year 2010 will be our 35th year in the rotary combine business and our heritage has led us to the future.”