UK farmers inhibited by inferior internet

A recent survey of farmers has unearthed that insufficient internet connectivity is holding back progress, productivity and growth for agricultural business in Britain.

The report found that unreliable broadband services were preventing the adoption of the latest technology, like real-time monitoring and artificial intelligence (AI).

Commissioned by full-fibre expert CityFibre, the Censuswide survey discovered that while nearly two-thirds of farming respondents (60 per cent) felt that internet connectivity was critical to daily farming activities, almost one-in-10 UK farms (8 per cent) had zero connectivity.

Observing the findings of the Censuswide survey, CEO for CityFibre, Greg Mesch, said to reap the technological and economic benefits on offer, British farmers needed access to the best internet connectivity available, adding:

“Project Gigabit is helping to bring faster internet access to rural and harder-to-reach communities, and we know the difference that full fibre makes, which is why our teams are hard at work, laying miles of cable and climbing countless telegraph poles to bring faster, better broadband to millions of people.”

The nationwide survey arrives at a time of low economic growth and increased adoption of smart technology. It raises a real concern that Britain’s farming industry is stifled by terrible levels of internet connectivity.

Although almost 60 per cent of farmers surveyed expected their technology use to increase in the next five years, problems regarding the speed and dependability of available internet connections were listed as the second largest barrier (42 per cent) to the deployment of brand-new farming technologies, with purchasing cost being the first (50 per cent).