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Abstract
Since the Internet’s inception its impact has been felt across the United States, but the distribution
and adoption of the Internet has not necessarily been uniform geographically. As
more consumers and businesses rely on the Internet to access information, the data transmission
requirements have also increased. Consequently, access to broadband has become
increasingly more important since dial-up cannot realistically handle the increased requirements.
The use of broadband in agriculture can provide better access to price, weather,
and management information while also opening new markets. However, many rural communities
lag behind urban areas in broadband access and adoption rates. This study evaluates,
through the use of a producer survey, the level of broadband Internet use, motivations for
its use, degree of access to broadband, and willingness-to-pay (WTP) to fund broadband
infrastructure investments. Results from the producer survey suggested farmers utilize the
Internet primarily for accessing weather reports, e-mail, market reports, and agricultural
news. Notably, the survey’s WTP questions allowed for the use of an interval regression to
calculate producer WTP for varying demographics. The results suggested that producers who
were younger, farmed larger farms, and those who currently use the Internet but do not have
broadband access were WTP more in property taxes to support broadband infrastructure
investments than those of a differing demographic. Because WTP levels varied drastically
depending on the underlying demographics, it becomes difficult to pinpoint a WTP level for
a one-time payment in property taxes that would be acceptable from a policy standpoint.