Over 210 million dollars to improve broadband access across Minnesota — a key part of an agriculture budget package headed to the desk of Governor Tim Walz after the legislature passed it this weekend. Lead Senate negotiator, Elbow Lake Republican Torrey Westrom says, “Our communities in rural Minnesota really are seeing a surge of economic development because of the ability for people to work remotely… and we think where they can live and where they want to live with their families, because of broadband they can move to rural Minnesota now.”
Westrom says farmers use broadband for checking markets and weather, connecting to their barns for livestock monitoring, and marketing specialty crops. Democratic Representative Rob Ecklund from International Falls, chief House author of the measure, says in 2022 “reliable internet access isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity.”