Farm News
How to Create New Jobs: The CCC Reimagined
Do you remember the days of dial-up? Web pages would scroll down the screen in fits and starts. Eventually you could start reading unless the web page designer decided to stick a 200K image on the page. Then . . .forget it. Thing of the past? Wrong.
In rural America, slow access to the Internet can be the norm, and the economic and community development impact is significant. The USDA states in an August 2009 report that “any shortfall in rural broadband availability is an implicit loss in economic opportunity for businesses, consumers and governments.”
That’s why it was encouraging to learn that the stimulus act appropriated $7.2 billion to expand broadband access across the U.S. That initiative is grinding its way through the system, but farmers need help right now.
The Rural Electrification Act of the 1930s brought power to rural areas. Today’s farmers, especially small farmers, need similar help not only tapping into the fire hose of information and opportunities available to them, but getting connected to guidance on maximizing its usefulness. Imagine the options: real-time access to weather and crop reports, databases of local and national agricultural extension programs, ordering parts and supplies, acquiring new skills through distance learning, even building an online marketing presence using low bandwidth social media tools.
“One of the salient features of the Internet is its capacity to provide information quickly and cheaply compared to other dissemination methods,” the USDA points out. But what if you’re over 55 (the average age of a farmer in America), dead tired from a day on the farm, and going online—if you can get online—just feels like too daunting a challenge?
This is where new CCC—the Civilian Connectivity Corp—can ride to the rescue.
Like the Civilian Conservation Corp of the Depression, the Corp will be made up of the unemployed, in this case recent college grads. Why recent graduates? Because in this country no group is more plugged into the immediate application of Internet tools and technology. They are experts in social media, Google searches and Facebook. What would seem insurmountable to an older generation is a cakewalk for these young ’uns, who themselves are facing an unprecedented slump in hiring just as student loans are coming due.
The first step is to train the students in what farmers need and then—very quickly—get the CCC into the field. Each staffer spends one week at a time setting up and populating a blog, a Facebook page, and creating bookmarks on the farmer’s web browser for the sites he will be using daily in his work.
This is not, however, a “set and forget’ situation. The CCC staffer is not only responsible for setting the farmer up initially, she will
also need to stay in touch to ensure that the tools are being used appropriately. One staffer could help manage the online tools and engagement for two dozen farms, providing the inspiration for, and pipeline to, a host of new opportunities. Like the original CCC, these workers would have to make at least a six-month commitment. And during that time their college loan payments would be put on hold.
In running the blog Friend of the Farmer, I have observed digital haves and have-nots: farmers who have set up decent web sites or
Facebook pages, and others who can barely send an email. As I was interviewing one New York farmer, he took a call from a wholesale prospect, a four-star chef. How did the chef find out about him? Through a web site and blog created by an ambitious staffer (and recent college grad).
Some people see getting a business online as complicated and costly. It simply doesn’t have to be that way. The original Civilian
Conservation Corps, one of the most successful New Deal programs of the Great Depression, left a legacy of great public works. With the farmer-friendly updated version of the CCC funded at Depression-level wages, everyone comes out a winner.
No doubt about it: we need to reimagine how we do business in Rural America. In our part of South Dakota, rural people generally have pretty good broadband access. Not perfect, but generally I think it’s acceptable. What’s lacking, however, is an understanding of how to use it. Your article has left me wondering why more Extension Educators have not turned to teaching technology to rural residents.
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Extension educators may be focusing more on production improvements and marketing. A clear understanding of technology access, however, will help help achieve both goals.
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Thanks for the post. I need to check up on this CCC..seems like an interesting project.
We actually do much the same thing over at Small Farm Central — we provide affordable web technology services to farmers across the country. This includes websites and other specialized tools for the needs of small farmers.
The internet can really level the playing fields for rural farmers that want to connect with urban consumers, chefs, etc. It takes the cost of this communication down, if knowledge & technology can be applied at a cost that makes sense for the farmer.
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Small Farm Central, mentioned above and others such as LocalHarvest.org have been populating the web with farmers and farm information for years. Sadly though, many who were able to get on board early don’t realize that their listings need to be kept up-to-date, even more so today when something dated 8 months ago looks old to readers. What would it take? I think, a year commitment is more realistic. In this way, the farmer can roll through all 4 seasons with a quality web presence and begin to really understand the usefulness of it, as well as learning how to make the best use of any down time they have to keep updating. Its a chore: and much like feeding animals and watering crops it takes care and nurturing and, most of all, teaching to help good growth. I am a former AmeriCorps member so I realize the value of a proposal like this one for both farmers and the corps members. Corps members often become the best resources for word-of-mouth, and these college grads would connect with the generation that probably knows the least about farmers.
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