USDA Finds Rural Wisconsin Needs Better Internet Access

Rural Wisconsin needs better Internet access: that’s the consensus from a series of listening sessions being held by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA has been around since the Lincoln administration, and it has helped bring infrastructure, running water, and electricity to rural America. Now, the agency is finding high-speed Internet is a priority.

Stan Gruszynski, the state director for the USDA’s rural development office, has been hosting a series of meetings in Wisconsin to find out what farmers, timber producers and business owners need. Internet access was a key concern during the meetings.

“Because if you’re going to ask people to create jobs and develop businesses and industry, you’ve got to be able to market it worldwide and in order to do that you’ve got to have to have a communications system that fits with the world wide economy,” Gruszynski said.

Gruszynski said parts of central and northern Wisconsin are still served by slow dial-up service.

“If you have to wait for dial-up,” he said, “that really creates a burden and slows the opportunity for business development.”

People still use dial-up?

Grusynski chuckled. “There are still places that’re using dial-up. As a matter of fact, when I drive home today I’ll get exactly two miles from home and my cell phone will die. Because for some reason, it stops two miles from my house.”

The listening sessions are being held at the request of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Gruszynski said the feedback will go to Washington, D.C., and help shape the USDA’s priorities.