Twin Cities Business reports…

Not long after Beth Ford became CEO of the Land O’Lakes cooperative in 2018, she toured agriculture co-ops and farms across rural America.

By early 2019, she was alarmed that many small towns and rural residents lacked high-speed internet service, which she feared would leave them behind in the 21st century economy. She recognized the technology deficit would greatly reduce access to education and health care and harm job creation. Ford became hell-bent on securing broadband funding at the federal level.

Less than three years later, on Nov. 15, she was on the White House lawn to witness President Biden’s signing of a bipartisan infrastructure bill, which included $65 billion for broadband.

It’s great to see businesses step up and her work speaks to the role that cooperatives are having in rural areas deploying broadband.