Regulations threaten Iowa agriculture

The cab of a modern tractor can provide farmers with information on GPS positioning, mechanical performance and even weather forecasting. Companies like John Deere are developing self-driving, GPS-guided tractors that rival human-driven tractors in performance. These inventions are just the beginning of an array of innovative ideas that will change the agriculture industry for the better - ideas that require ubiquitous wireless connectivity in even most remote areas to be realized.

But the necessary build-out of these wireless and wired networks depends on private investment in broadband technology, something threatened through 'open Internet” rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission which took effect on June 12.

The Internet will for the first time be closely regulated, just as the phone systems or railroads of the 20th century were. Over time, investment will surely drop, which will discourage the investment needed to equip America's farmers with these tools of the future.

As Progressive Policy Institute Senior Fellow Hal Singer found in a recent study, investment from ISPs large and small could fall between 5 and 12 percent 'per year relative to 2014 levels - based on experience in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the last time telecommunications companies were subject to public-utility rules.”

The new patchwork of bureaucracy, guidelines and procedures FCC commissioners have created will likely make it harder - not easier - to bring new technologies and services to the marketplace.

If new policies for the Internet are to be enacted, they should be done through a more representative and deliberative process that allows elected officials to develop solutions supported by their constituents.

Lawmakers representing rural districts are our best chance for a fair, bipartisan agreement on preserving an open Internet that will nurture high-speed broadband networks across the country without compromising the crucial investment it requires.

Fortunately, Iowa's own Rep. Dave Loebsack serves on a highly influential congressional committee that has jurisdiction over policies that affect broadband networks. It is my hope that he knows there are better ways to ensure an open Internet without rigid new regulations, and that he works toward that legislative solution in a bipartisan fashion.

' Grace Boatright is President of Rural Advancement Strategies and the former legislative director of the National Grange. Comments: g.boatright@hotmail.com