Applications open soon for Round 4 of USDA ReConnect Program funding

Applications open soon for Round 4 of USDA ReConnect Program funding

More funding is being made available from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to increase access to affordable high-speed internet.

Rural Development Undersecretary Xochitl Torres Small says high-speed internet is needed across Rural America, “Going from the farm to the school to households to international markets, connectivity drives that positive change that helps strengthen our rural communities.”

To be eligible for ReConnect funding Torres Small says proposed areas must be rural and/or lack sufficient access to broadband service. 

She says providers have to provide sufficient access to rural broadband, “They have to provide speeds of at least one hundred up, one hundred down, and that increase in download speed is crucial for things like precision ag, so farmers can be the best stewards that they want to be.”

She says this funding will help everyone in America, regardless of where they live, because rural Americans provide the everyday essentials the country depends on.