Ohio Farm Bureau Podcast

Earlier this year, Governor DeWine signed House Bill 2 into law, creating the Ohio Broadband Expansion Program. Then, as part of the state’s new biennial budget, $250 million dollars was earmarked to allow internet service providers to apply for grants that will help fund the infrastructure needed to provide faster internet access to underserved rural Ohio communities. How soon will Ohioans see a difference in their broadband offerings and what does that process look like? On this week’s Our Ohio Weekly, we connect with experts to talk about rural broadband. 00:00 - Tom Reid, Broadband Consultant with Reid Consulting Group and Jenna Reese, Director of State Policy with Ohio Farm Bureau talk about the rural broadband challenges in Ohio and efforts to overcome them. 23:50 - "To the Beat of Agriculture", one of the newest inductees into the Ohio Agriculture Hall of Fame, Keith Stimpert, talks about his career that included 4 decades with Ohio Farm Bureau. 32:20 - Tom Reid and Jenna Reese continue the rural broadband discussion and the multiple disconnects between rural and urban parts of Ohio. 42:20 - Hocking County Farm Bureau organization director, Ivory Harlow, talks about the newly developed virtual Youth Cooperative Leadership Experience.