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The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) sees the need for speed.
The association has formed a rural connectivity task force in the hopes of improving high-speed Internet in some areas of the province. The task force’s goal is to release a report on the situation in January.
Task force chair Jeremy Welter, who’s also on the APAS board of directors, told Gormley that farmers need to be connected in this day and age as they try to operate their businesses.
“It’s reasonable to say that a reliable high-speed Internet connection is as much of a requirement for day-to-day life and running a business as things like electricity and gas,” said Welter, who farms near Kerrobert.
APAS has put a speed test on its website to allow people to see how fast – or slow — their Internet connection is. The test may show some residents of rural areas that their service could be better.
Welter said the small Internet provider in his area “does very well,” but its service could be improved.
“Things take time and there are still times where we have to disconnect both of our cellphones from the WiFi if one of us is trying to do something on the computer that’s taking a little bit longer,” he said. “It’s one of those things that probably people in the city don’t really have to take into consideration.”
The federal government recently announced it was investing $1.75 billion to get 98 per cent of Canadians connected to high-speed Internet by 2026. The feds hope to have all Canadians connected by 2030.
To reach that level in Saskatchewan, Welter says providers are going to have to work together.
“There’s going to need to be some real key partnerships made between some of the bigger line companies and some of the smaller rural companies that are interested in servicing some of these local communities,” he said.
In the meantime, the task force will continue trying to figure out how to improve service to rural areas. It already has met with researchers to come up with explanations for low connectivity rates as well as solutions for the problem.
“This disconnect, if you will, happens everywhere in rural Canada and so we’re really just trying to come up with a reason,” Welter said.
“Obviously there is a business case for focusing on cities first. Your larger populations and your most dense population areas are obviously going to be taken care of first, but we’re just really trying to figure out why it has taken so long and why in a lot of cases it’s just not happening at all in rural areas.
“Once we’ve got a better handle on a lot of the background, the report that we want to release is going to include some recommendations to resolve that.”