KSAX out of Alexandria ran a nice story on the Blandin Foundation MIRC project, helping to announce the 4.8 million of the stimulus package that will help rural communities in Minnesota use the internet.
KSAX highlighted the potential impact on farmers in the area. I’ve written about the importance of broadband to farming communities before. There was a national research report that came out last summer (Internet’s Value for Rural America) that also highlighted some specific benefits of broadband in rural area – benefits such as telemedicine.
The Blandin Foundation maintains a whole toolkit of broadband applications that benefit individuals, families, business and communities. The toolkit is divided into five categories:
Each category contains a range of subcategories (such as teleradiology) that lead to a number of links to specific applications. Some applications are available online – some for free; others are descriptions of application or services that may be fee-based or not targeting single users (such as hospital systems). But browsing through the categories will give you an idea of some of the advantages the MIRC communities will be learning about and deploying over the next few years. They are applications that will help farmers – and more!