Industry starts to see the net gains from connectivity
It might be a sad reflection of my attention span, but I’ve really come to enjoy that little running dinosaur computer game with which the new laptop signals that the internet connection has dropped once again.
I’ve had more than enough practice to become proficient at jumping over all those cacti and avoiding those low flying ducks because there’s usually enough time to fit in several games before the connection re-establishes itself .
For even although the broadband equivalent of the M1 actually runs past the farm road-end – providing the joys of superfast fibre optic broadband to those who can key into it – there’s no slip road available to take us onto this communications superhighway. And so we have to make do with the “narrowband” which many of those who live in country areas will recognise as the inevitable result of living at the end of a very long, thin piece of copper phone wire, dating back to the sixties.
So with the normal “internet connection unstable” message which tends to haunt any attempt at participating in a Zoom or Teams meeting seared into my memory, it was with some trepidation that I signed in for last week’s Agriscot online event.
And while I’m completely sure that we’re not alone in rural areas in suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous broadband provision, the ‘hope over experience’-style optimism of Scotland’s farmers saw a massive uptake of the opportunity to join in, even in virtual format, with what has long been one of the farming highlights of the tail-end of the year.
However, hats must be raised to the organisers for putting on a splendid day – and despite the inevi
table glitches and delays encountered when coping with rural broadband and an audience which might not excel in the computersavvy department – the whole thing ran as smoothly as it could have.
Apparently while the organisers had been totally taken aback by the 1,400 in the industry who tuned in, the team providing the actual computer platform which delivered the event online had also been amazed – as rather than getting the usual 70-80 per cent of those who had signed up for the event actually taking the trouble to attend, more than 99 per cent of signed-up farmers tuned in at some stage.
So it certainly looks like the industry is shaking off its antipathy and ambivalence towards modern communication technologies – and warming to some of the opportunities which, internet provision permitting, they can offer to those in remote areas.
And the recent agritourism conference – yes, online – where 140 attendees behaved themselves on a Zoom meeting, the opportunities for promoting not only individual businesses, but the workings of the industry as a whole were spelled out. Live broadcasts from the field, shed and farmhouse, explaining something as simple as what went on in the way of day-to-day jobs
had proved real hits, with folk tuning in not only from across the country during lockdown but also from around the world.
So with all this going on it would appear to be a timely move from NFU Scotland to conduct a major survey into how broadband and connectivity is affecting farmers and their businesses to help them lobby for improved mobile and broadband connectivity.
It’s certainly true that with so many services moving onto an online platform, Covid-19 has exacerbated inequitable digital access and has amplified the social, economic and technological exclusion of agricultural businesses.
But while plenty of apocryphal stories exist, like any lobbying exercise, getting hard statistics to back up the argument is often the only real route to making any headway – and so it’s hoped that a good response to the broad-ranging survey which ends in the New Year will highlight the real extent of the problem.
I’m glad to say, though, that the irony of conducting the survey online has not been missed by the union – and anyone who is currently forced to rely on more old-fashioned means of communication can contact the head office for a paper version.