ANNOUNCEMENT:  May 20, 2020

Close the rural-urban gap with high-speed internet

Networked technology can help bring farming and food production back to profitability

Rural America is struggling more than most people realize, and there’s not a lot of time left to do something to fix it — for everybody. 

That’s what Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford told business leaders and officials at the Economic Club of Minnesota Wednesday in an hourlong address in Minneapolis. 

Ford, who has headed the 99-year-old cooperative since 2018, called on more investment in broadband, education and health care. She said her company was even planning to launch a half-dozen rural “service centers” to aggregate high-speed internet, telemedicine and other amenities. 

“Every business is a digital business now, every business is a technology business, and agriculture is one of the last sectors to be disrupted,” Ford said. “Especially by e-business and technology.” 

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