Planning for a ‘Broadband Breakthrough,’ Rural Illinois Counties Prepare

February 19, 2024

by Will Wright, The Daily Yonder
January 29, 2024

When Peggy Braffet and her husband opened their pick-your-own blueberry orchard in 1995 in the rural village of Carlock, Illinois, access to high-speed internet wasn’t a concern — it didn’t even exist.

Now it’s top of mind. 

When guests show up to the Braffet Berry Farm & Orchard, which also has strawberry plants and apple trees now, they sometimes expect to be able to pay with credit cards. The Braffets’ slow internet connection won’t allow it. 

Braffet’s frustration, compounded by the fact that neighbors just a half-mile away have fast internet, reflects that of many rural Illinois residents. For farmers, teachers, small business owners and other professionals, the speed of their internet can weigh heavily on their bank accounts and their ability to work.

During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Braffet worked remotely as a teacher and drove into town to access fast-enough internet. Some days, that meant teaching from a McDonald’s parking lot.  

An influx of federal dollars included in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 may offer a path forward, and some Illinois county and business leaders are readying themselves for investment with a new program from the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society. The Benton Institute advocates for bringing “affordable, high-performance broadband to all people in the U.S. to ensure a thriving democracy.” 

Last year, five Illinois counties took part in the Benton Institute’s Broadband Breakthrough program. The effort coached local leaders on how broadband expansion happens, how to conduct community surveys, and how to get a better shot at these incoming federal dollars. 

In interviews with the Daily Yonder, participants said the program helped ready the counties for a “once-in-a-generation” funding opportunity, one that could help business owners like Braffet.  

“We’re not going to get this type of investment again in broadband expansion,” said Anthony Grant, the assistant county administrator for McLean County. 

Participating counties surveyed residents to ask about the impact of their internet speeds on their lives. In at least one county, some of that survey was conducted on paper — the people they hoped to reach couldn’t take the survey online. 

The survey revealed a key reason for expanding decent internet access: the wide use of telehealth, Grant said. 

Nearly 80% of survey respondents in McLean County said they used telehealth services via the internet.

One respondent said their spouse was going through cancer treatments. Because they had telehealth and high-speed internet, they were able to reduce the number of trips to see a specialist in Chicago, a two-and-a-half hour drive.

“It’s really sobering reading that, “Grant said. “And again, it reinforces the importance of this.”

Billions of Dollars Allocated for Broadband Expansion

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, will deliver $42.45 billion across 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five territories. The program allocated about $1.04 billion for Illinois. Eighteen other states, including Texas, Louisiana, and West Virginia, are set to receive over $1 billion. 

Within Illinois, internet service providers, called ISPs, will submit applications to help pay for the construction of new internet lines. Counties that went through the Broadband Breakthrough program created plans that outlined how they’d target infrastructure money, giving the counties and their chosen ISP partners an advantage in the application process, said Adrianne B. Furniss, the Benton Institute’s executive director. 

“I always say, it’s nothing like lousy broadband to bring communities together,” Furniss said.

Participating counties brought together stakeholders: internet service providers, business owners, hospital administrators, farmer representatives, and others. One major piece of the puzzle is getting an internet service provider on board to build out the high-speed internet infrastructure in unserved or underserved areas. 

Furniss said every county has its own strengths and challenges. Some, like Ogle County, have already started to build out high-speed internet lines. Others are still in the process of conducting feasibility studies. 

But the number of partners that must come together can be daunting. 

Grant, from McLean County, said landowners along the proposed path of internet line construction need to sign off on the build-out. In a county about three-quarters the size of Rhode Island, that means a lot of permissions. 

In Hancock County, at least two internet service providers have already applied for and will continue to apply for broadband expansion grants as the federal dollars become available, said Samantha Harnack, executive director of Hancock County Economic Development. 

Those relationships, and having a concrete plan in place for expansion, are key to being approved, she said. 

“The state is 100% not going to give anyone a grant that doesn’t have their ducks in a row,” Harnack said. “The federal government, same thing.”

It’s unclear just how long it will take to expand broadband access to underserved rural areas. Patricia Nordman, a district representative for the Ogle County government, said she’s thinking on a 10-year timescale. 

The stakes, though, from remote learning to providing work-from-home opportunities to people who grew up in Ogle County but left for economic reasons, are motivation to stay committed.

In Agriculture, Farming Comes “Full Circle”

Bryan Stevens, a corn and soybean farmer and board president of the Hancock County Farm Bureau, smiled when a reporter asked him about technology in agriculture and the need for fast, reliable internet. 

Stevens said he looks at three different screens when he’s planting in the spring. When his wife runs the combine to harvest in the fall, she looks at two. Computers tell his 30-foot-wide planter exactly where to plant — the ideal rate of seed-per-yard could vary from one end of the planter to the other, and from one side of the field to another. 

At home, there is data from the field to be uploaded and downloaded. There are variable fertilizer rates to be considered. There are production reports to analyze. 

“It’s technology at its best,” Stevens said.

While Stevens said bringing fiber to every farm field is not feasible because of cost, access to fast, reliable internet at home makes a big difference in a business where accurate and well-analyzed data can make next year more profitable. 

Agriculture has changed dramatically over the last 100 years. Looking at aerial maps from the 1930s, Stevens noticed the size of many of the farm fields: five acres, 10 acres. Farmers knew every foot of their fields. 

In the 1980s and ’90s, Stevens said the size of the average field skyrocketed. Knowing every foot became impossible. 

Now, though, because of technology that’s assisted by fast, reliable internet, Stevens’ data allows him to know every inch of his field — literally. 

“Farming has come full circle,” Stevens said.

He recalled a conversation with his grandfather, who told him about how much electricity changed agriculture. It made everything easier, his grandfather said. 

“I see broadband as that next step,” Stevens said. “You know, if we have broadband, solid electricity connection in the rural areas, I mean, it’s a game changer.” 

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DISCLOSURE: The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society is a contractor for the Center for Rural Strategies’ marketing and communications outreach. The Daily Yonder, published by the Center for Rural Strategies, operates independently in all editorial decisions.

This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.