The Farmers’ Union of Wales is pitching for free broadband after a government initiative means that farmers will have to fill in official forms online. At an international seminar the FUW argued that because of requirements imposed on rural businesses to fill in forms electronically, the broadband service by which they may do so should be provided to farmers free-of-charge.
The Farmers’ Union of Wales and Cardiff University’s eCommerce Innovation Centre have teamed up for the rural e-Gov project, which aims to improve the uptake of electronic public administration services in rural areas across Europe.
The two-year pilot project which started in 2006 is assessing the needs of small and medium-sized businesses in rural parts of Wales, Greece, Germany, Poland and Slovenia. The report was read at a seminar held in Bled, Slovenia, after a meeting of the FUW in Aberystwyth which explored the potential uses and implications of eGovernment in farming. Brian Walters, the FUW’s vice-president and a Carmarthenshire organic dairy farmer, said that farmers were increasingly using the internet for activities such as tracking cattle movement.
By contrast, there has been significant investment in broadband in urban Wales - Cardiff is notably one of the biggest beneficiaries of Wi-Fi access in the UK, thanks to a deal between BT and Cardiff City Council.
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