Land O’Lakes wants to make rural America the land o’ broadband

Land O'Lakes (yes, the butter company) is bridging the digital divide in the rural US. During the height of COVID, Land O’Lakes expedited its budding plans to help close the broadband access gap in rural America, said Vice President of rural services Tina May. As a cooperative owned by around 1,700 farmers, Land O’Lakes is situated in over 10,000 rural communities in the US, touching about half of the harvested acres in the country. In 2020 Land O’Lakes collaborated with local partners in rural, low-access areas to set up free Wi-Fi in parking lots. One of those partners, Tractor Supply Company, still offers Wi-Fi in some of its locations. Soon after the pandemic hit, Land O’Lakes started its American Connection Project (ACP), which advocates for rural broadband investment and includes several projects aimed at expanding access to connectivity. Led in conjunction with Lead for America (LFA), the ACP in April 2021 also set up American Connection Corps, an ACP fellowship connecting locals to their hometown broadband efforts for a two-year paid program. During the program fellows are set up with local offices and taught skills such as grant writing, advocacy and community organizing. The American Connection Corps has paired up with a number of state broadband offices, many of which were set up in preparation for Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) allocations. Land O’Lakes will be graduating its first 50 fellows soon, May said, and has a new cohort ready to start in August 2023 – which will include 105 fellows across 34 states.