Mary Cullen

Taking Precision Agriculture Further with Fiber

Former Administrator of the US Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service and current Managing Member with Rural America Strategies Chad Rupe joined the Fiber Broadband Association’s Fiber for Breakfast to share how current broadband allocations are “a bridge halfway” to aiding family farms and the growing need for precision agriculture. According to Rupe, both the farmer and provider can build up rural economies and harvest profits with precision agriculture. Farmers in rural areas often do not have integrated systems and have not gained the full benefits of ever-increasing techno

Addressing the Broadband Gap in Indian Country

Bobby Gonzalez is Chairman of the Caddo Nation, a federally recognized Native American tribe in Oklahoma, joined the Fiber Broadband Association for a recent Fiber for Breakfast episode to share his experience with bringing broadband to Indian Country. Less than 68% of tribal people across the United States have access to the internet, Gonzalez noted. “We think, how can that happen in today’s day and age?” he said. “But you go out to the Navajo Nation and in some of the pueblos they still don’t have running water.