Extension

A new highway for rural Oklahoma
Broadband Internet access provides rural Oklahomans with boundless opportunities
By Julie Sackmann, Moses Lake, Wash.

It is an average day in rural Oklahoma. A farmer gets up, performs his morning routine, eats breakfast, then sits at the computer to check the markets.
           
His fingers click away at the keyboard. www.cbot.com. Enter. He waits, waits and waits more for the page to load. "Finally!" the farmer thinks as the Chicago Board of Trade Web site loads, and he is able to click on market data. The waiting resumes until the next page loads, and he enters the market code and hits enter, sending the page on its way.
           
Suddenly, his son bursts in the room.
           
"Dad, the cows are out!"
           
The farmer gets up and hurries to follow his son. He does not make it back to his computer for the rest of the day and misses a market fluctuation, costing him hundreds of dollars.
           
If only he had broadband.

Broadband – the information autobahn
"The Internet has become a substitute for other sources of information," said Brian Whitacre, Oklahoma State University agricultural economics assistant professor and rural development specialist. "It has the advantage of allowing nearly instantaneous communication and reaction."
           
If the farmer at the beginning of this story had broadband, he could have checked the markets and his e-mail before the cows interrupted his work. According to the Federal Communications Commission, broadband allows for use of the Internet and its services and must be four times faster than traditional dial-up connections, though faster connections are available.
           
However, the farmer is not alone in lacking broadband access, Whitacre said. Oklahoma lags behind the national average for broadband access, especially in rural areas.

Spreading the word
Whitacre said individuals who are not familiar with the uses and benefits of broadband Internet access tend to have a "do-not-need-it" attitude.
           
This is where he comes in.
           
"Rural development extension educators meet with rural communities and discuss what e-commerce is, what setting up a Web site can do for their small businesses, and what steps they need to take to profit from this type of technology," Whitacre said.
           
OSU's role in rural development is to promote not only the existence of broadband in rural communities but also to promote the effective use of that technology, Whitacre said.
           
"We try to get in the real world as much as possible and work alongside people to help them see how technologies such as this can benefit them," Whitacre said.
           
Whitacre also said historically, farmers have a lower rate of adoption, but more and more realize broadband Internet can help them make decisions faster.
           
And like the farmer discovered at the beginning of this story, being able to get things done faster is a good thing.
           
The Chicago Board of Trade Web site provides producers with up-to-the-minute market information, allowing them to make informed decisions based on real-time data.
           
"If you don't use the latest technology, eventually you'll be at a disadvantage," said Gerald Doeksen, OSU agricultural economics regents professor.

Progress
Mike Woods, OSU agricultural economics department head and extension economist, has worked with several rural electric cooperatives that install DSL.
           
"In talking with and working with rural electric cooperatives, I have found that many from older generations can remember when electricity and water came to rural Oklahoma," Woods said. "Water and electricity provided important infrastructure that we couldn't move forward without. High-speed broadband infrastructure is the same issue for rural America, farms and communities — we cannot move forward without it."
           
The goal of rural development is not only for rural areas to have broadband access but also for rural areas to have affordable broadband access, said Brent Kisling, state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Agency.
           
The USDA Rural Development Agency works to bring new opportunities to those who live in rural areas and to help them compete on a global level while still living in small communities.
           
One such opportunity is broadband Internet access.
           
"Broadband allows users to partake in e-commerce, stay in touch with friends and relatives around the world, and advance their education," Whitacre said.
           
Doeksen has worked in rural development for 40 years, focusing his efforts on community services and keeping rural hospitals open. Doeksen said broadband is helping to keep rural hospitals open using telemedicine — a broadband Internet service that allows doctors in larger cities to correspond with rural doctors.
           
"Many hospitals are hooking up with radiology," Doeksen said. "It allows for almost instant results, whereas it used to take one or two days. A doctor can be in Oklahoma City and have a patient in Boise City and have nearly instant readings."
           
Aside from telemedicine, broadband also can assist medical professionals with continuing education credits.
           
"Many courses are offered online, and doctors and nurses can get continuing education courses right at the hospital," Doeksen said. "Tele-education is perfect for helping expand education."
           
Medical personnel are not the only ones who can benefit from tele-education. Many universities offer online courses through distance learning programs, which can lead to graduate degrees.
           
"Online classes are great because they allow individuals to keep up with classes and save time and mileage from having to drive to Oklahoma City or Tulsa to get credits," Doeksen said.

Boosting Efficiency
In addition to education, users can benefit from broadband on a professional level. Business owners have come to rely on high-speed Internet access not only for their business operations but also for their customers.
           
"You have to have a Web presence for people to believe you're a real company," Whitacre said.
           
Bear Runyan, owner of 3C Cattle Feeders in Mill Creek, Okla., received broadband access the spring of 2006. When Runyan learned his company was to receive broadband, he was excited, he said.
           
"We had only heard about it," Runyan said. "We were pretty eager to get it going."
           
Now that Runyan has broadband, he is able to respond to customers and place online orders quickly, he said.
           
"It does not take me half the morning to check e-mail anymore," Runyan said.
           

If you are selling something, you have to have a Web presence, Doeksen said. Web sites help with marketing and getting messages delivered. People who use computers tend to rely on them.
           
In general, college-age individuals are more tech-savvy than older generations and cannot imagine being without high-speed Internet, Woods said.
           
"It starts in school," Woods said. "Kids get hooked on it and bring the technology home to their parents and grandparents."

Everywhere you want to be
Doeksen, Whitacre and Woods all said broadband Internet access provides rural communities with opportunities for growth, jobs and income.
           
"I won't claim businesses grow solely because of broadband access, but it is definitely a factor," Whitacre said. "We have some small businesses that have increased their revenues by simply advertising online."
           
Woods said one of the driving factors that determines where people choose to live is the availability of broadband.
           
"People don't want to live in rural communities without digital infrastructure," Woods said. "Businesses don't want to move to areas without digital infrastructure. Broadband is a fundamental piece of infrastructure for rural areas to be competitive."

For more information on rural development and bringing broadband Internet access to rural areas, visit http://www.agecon.okstate.edu/broadband or http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.

Cimarron Telephone Co. is bringing DSL to rural Oklahomans near Terlton. (Photo by Julie Sackmann)

Numerous individual wires comprise the DSL cables that bring high-speed Internet to rural Oklahomans. (Photo by Julie Sackmann)