Department of Agriculture

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing the funding through the Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) grant program. These investments will benefit 5.4 million rural residents. Projects include:

The Department of Agriculture invested $41.6 million in high-speed broadband infrastructure that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for rural households and farms in Missouri and Southern Iowa. The Grand River Mutual Telephone Corporation will use ReConnect Program funding to deploy a fiber to the premises (FTTP) broadband network capable of simultaneous transmission rates of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) or greater. The funded service areas include 2,288 households, 17 businesses and 39 farms.

The Department of Agriculture invested $7.2 million in high-speed broadband infrastructure that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for rural households and farms in Iowa and South Dakota. The Heartland Telecommunications Company of Iowa, doing business as Premier Communications, will use a ReConnect Program loan to deploy a fiber to the premises (FTTP) broadband network capable of simultaneous transmission rates of 1/1 gigabits per second. The funded service areas include 868 households, 17 businesses and 27 farms.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) invested nearly $3.8 million in high-speed broadband infrastructure that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for more than 1,250 rural households in Virginia. Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative will use ReConnect Program funding to deploy a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband network capable of simultaneous transmission rates of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) or greater. The funded service areas include 1,254 households, two volunteer fire departments, and four educational facilities.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invested $9,750,000 in high-speed broadband infrastructure that will create or improve rural e-Connectivity for 3,911 rural households in South Carolina. Orangeburg County (SC) will use ReConnect Program grant funding to deploy a fiber to the home (FTTH) broadband network capable of simultaneous transmission rates of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) or greater. The funded service areas include 3,911 households, 21 farms, 17 rural businesses, 13 educational facilities, nine critical community facilities, and a health care center. 

The Department of Agriculture's ReConnect Pilot Program is investing  $2,856,167 in high-speed broadband infrastructure to create or improve e-Connectivity for 347 rural households in Tennessee. Tennessee’s Forked Deer Electric Cooperative will use a ReConnect Program grant to deploy a fiber to the home (FTTH) broadband network capable of simultaneous transmission rates of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) or greater. The funded service areas include 347 households and one critical community facility spread over approximately 435 square miles.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it is investing $152 million in 20 projects to provide or improve rural broadband service in 14 states. “Deploying high-speed broadband internet connectivity, or ‘e-Connectivity,’ in rural America expands access to essential health, educational, social and business opportunities,” said Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Donald "DOJ" LaVoy said.

Agriculture Sec Sonny Perdue unveiled a groundbreaking report, A Case for Rural Broadband: Insights on Rural Broadband Infrastructure and Next Generation Precision Agriculture Technologies. The report finds that deployment of both broadband e-Connectivity and Next Generation Precision Agriculture Technology on farms and ranches throughout the US could result in at least $47 billion in national economic benefits every year.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is offering up to $600 million in loans and grants to help build broadband infrastructure in rural America. Telecommunications companies, rural electric cooperatives and utilities, internet service providers and municipalities may apply for funding through USDA’s new ReConnect Program to connect rural areas that currently have insufficient broadband service. Answering the Administration’s call to action for rural prosperity, Congress appropriated funds in the fiscal year 2018 budget for this broadband pilot program.

The United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2019 for the Rural Broadband Access Loans and Loan Guarantees Program. RUS is accepting applications on a rolling basis throughout FY 2019. This will give RUS the ability to request additional information and modifications to a submitted application whenever necessary. Applications will be processed on a first come, first served basis.