HARRISBURG, Pa. — Antique tractors on display at the Farm Show recall a lower-tech time in farming.
“A lot of the newer stuff won’t run without some kind of computer connection. If you have a problem with it, there’s nothing you can do about it. That wasn’t an issue in this era,” said Wayne Young of Harleysville, Pa., who was showing his 1940 model “D” John Deere tractor with the Waterloo Boys Two-Cylinder Tractor Club.
Today, much more farm equipment connects to the internet to do everything from GPS mapping to real-time data on temperature, soil conditions, and grain prices.
“We’re marketing grain year-round so it’s important that I know what the market’s doing that particular day, if it’s a good opportunity to sell or to hold off,” said James Hershey, who raises broiler chickens and grows grains on his farm in Elizabethtown.
Some farm equipment uses a satellite connection to the internet, but some rely on fixed or mobile broadband. That’s a problem for farmers in rural areas with limited access to fast, reliable internet.
The Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority held a meeting at the Farm Show on Thursday to hold a final listening session before submitting an updated broadband access map to the FCC.
The FCC’s broadband access map shows all broadband serviceable locations across the United States where fixed broadband internet access service is or can be installed.
The map will be used to allocate funding to increase internet access in areas with no or not enough service.
Pennsylvania was given $279 million from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 allocated for broadband projects.
“The funding within the Capital Project Funds specifically is meant to enable unserved and underserved areas,” Kalie Snyder of the Pa. Department of Community and Economic Development said at the meeting.
Officials said though they needed to submit an updated map to the FCC on Jan. 13, residents in rural areas are still encouraged to check if their homes’ coverage is correct on the map.
You can find the map here.
To change the accuracy of your home’s internet coverage on the map, enter your address and click “availability challenge.”