Cong. Zach Nunn. (Nunn official office photo)
Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn is hoping to insert guaranteed federal investment in broadband infrastructure in the next Farm Bill.
“I don’t need to tell anybody in Iowa who lives here right now that Iowa is 45th in the nation when it comes to broadband access,” Nunn said during a Des Moines news conference. “…Roughly a third of Iowa’s 99 counties are still broadband deserts.”
Nunn, a Republican from Bondurant, is co-sponsoring a proposal with lawmakers from Minnesota and Illinois that would make the USDA’s ReConnect pilot program permanent. Since 2018, the pilot program has been providing grants and loans to extend high speed internet to rural areas.
“Real, tangible infrastructure improvements and those equipment and facilities that provide access to all of our communities,” Nunn says.
Five years ago, President Trump’s ag secretary redirected $200 million in agency funds to a pilot program for broadband and it has continued in the Biden Administration, but congress has not voted to make these USDA grants and loans for broadband permanent.
Nunn said it is “no acceptable” that Iowa currently has the second slowest internet speeds in the country. “Whether you are a stay-at-home mom or you’re a work remote or you’re just somebody that likes to watch Yellowstone, we all know on the success of your day,” Nunn said.
And Nunn said slow internet speed can be a health issue, as rural Iowans who have telemedicine appointments with a doctor who’s miles away can’t get a reliable connections. “It’s not simply enough to have internet,” Nunn said. “We have to have an internet that provides the services for life saving assistance.”
Nunn indicated broadband is also critical for precision agriculture — farm equipment connected to the internet so it adjusts planting and fertilizer applications based on field maps. A USDA report in 2021 found 30% of U.S. farms had either no or very slow internet.