Rural broadband lagging behind claims farmers union

The state of rural broadband and mobile phone coverage is significantly lagging behind, according to survey results by the National Farmers Union (NFU).

The survey, which polled 500 people across the country, suggested that mobile and rural internet had not improved since the first survey was conducted in 2015. Just four per cent of farmers had access to superfast broadband. Seventy per cent of farmers had no access to 4G mobile phone coverage.

The research comes after the prime minister, Theresa May, pledged to improve rural services and continue to commit the government to roll out superfast broadband to 95 per cent by 2017. The new Universal Service Obligation (USO) has pledged to give households a minimum speed of 10Mbps.

However, rural farms and difficult to reach homes are part of the five per cent. Senior adviser, Suzanne Clear for the NFU said that many farmers were irritated at being left in the dark over the slow broadband issues. “From our members’ point of view, the fact that 500 were happy to talk and were so quick to come back to us suggests they are still aggrieved.

"The results suggested that the broadband issue is widespread. It can affect farmers just as much on the edge of a settlement as it can in more isolated areas.”

The NFU has also expressed concern that the new USO will not be sufficient for the new agri-technology that is being adopted by farmers and suggests that the speeds should be set higher. Ms Clear said: “The EU has set a new target for ‘all European households’ to get a minimum internet download speed of 100Mbps-plus by 2025, with businesses and the public sector being told to expect 1Gbps-plus,” she explained.

“Our farmers are still getting a poor broadband deal. We need broadband that keeps farm businesses competitive.”

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