Lack of reliable cell, internet service a 'missed opportunity for growth,' Manitoba farm group says

A reliable cellphone signal or internet connection is something many Canadians now take for granted. But a Manitoba farm producers group wants to raise awareness about the frustrations, missed opportunities and safety concerns that arise from a lack of service in some rural areas.

"You take it or leave it," Sam Connery-Nichol, a director with Keystone Agricultural Producers,said of the service currently available in her area.

Her family operates a vegetable and fruit farm outsidePortage la Prairie, Man., a city of around 13,000 that's about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg.

Connery-Nichol said she has a couple of options for internet access at her farm'soffice, but at her home just a few kilometres down the road there's only one option, whichshe says can be unreliable at times.

She's spoken with others across southern Manitoba, who have told herthe reliability and availability of cellphone and internet signals"really depends on where you are. Sometimes it's just terrible."

The producers group launched a survey last month and is collecting data with the aim of swaying the province, Ottawa and major telecom providers to step up their game in rural Manitoba.

Connery-Nichol said the issue goes far beyond the convenience of being able to talk, text or stream anytime and anywhere. Agricultural operations and even some farm machinery increasingly rely on stable internet or data signals in order to operate effectively and efficiently.

On her farm, for example,sorting and packaging equipment in the warehouse "speaks" to a central server offsite. If her internet is down, the entire process can be hampered, Connery-Nichol said.

"When you can't get your internet working, you can't do anything that day. Everyone takes it for granted."

In the office, she said she's had to resort to using a fax machine when she isn't able to send documents and other farm-related work online.

Some technology on modern tractors and other equipment relies onGPS and satellites, but other technology requires cell networks to transmit data collected from various pieces of equipment.

"There's a lot of things we haven't upgraded to because we feel that we wouldn't be able to maintain them they way they needed to," Connery-Nichol said.

"We've heard a lot of frustrations on missed opportunities from people who knew there was technology out there that they could start using but they can't access the technology because they can't get a good enough signal to use it," she said.

"It's a missed opportunity for growth."

'Itis taking over the function'

Harvey Chorney, the vice-president of Manitoba operations for the Saskatchewan-based Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, said connectivity is increasingly important in agriculture.

"If you keep track of the evolution of electronics, it was used initially as basically giving you more information and really didn't take over the function," said Chorney, whose organization researches and tests equipment for several industries, including the agricultural industry.

"Now it is taking over the function."

Chorney said advancing technology aims to make the agriculture industry more efficient, and producers are increasinglyusing that technology to collect data using data-gathering drones, for example, to monitor crop conditions.

But that means the business of farming is becoming more and more reliant on the communications technology to manage and use that data.

WATCH | Afarmer outline her rural service frustrations:

'We've been frustrated': Farm group decries poor wireless service in rural Manitoba

5 years ago

Duration 1:45

A farming group is pushing for better wireless service in rural Manitoba.

"If you have this data that you're collecting you have to collect it, put it somewhere to analyze it properly [in order to] make use of it," he said. "That's where the internet adaptation is the key part of that."

He agreed that the infrastructure for such applications hasn't kept up in Manitoba.

"If you compare some of the places that have advanced faster, like southern California, they are probably 20 years ahead of us in terms of the infrastructure."

BellMTS one of the province's largest service providers said it has now expanded its Gigabit Fibe internet service to more than two dozen smaller communities in the province.

The company's fastest cell network its LTE-advanced network now reaches 90 per cent of Manitoba's population, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

"We've also brought wireless service to previously unserved communities like Glenboro, Stuartburn, Woodridge, Whitemouth, Winnipegosis and Zhoda," the statement said.

It said it will continue to build and upgrade its network across Manitoba.

Safety concern

That connectivity is more than just a convenience or a business aid,Connery-Nichol saidit's also a matter of safety.

"Everybody should be able to get that call out if needed," she said. "If you don't have reliable cell service, what happens in the case of an emergency?"

That's a concern people in the Alonsa, Man., area have been voicing since a tornado tore through the area in the summer of 2018, killing a man.

At the time, elected officials said poor cell service meant many people didn't get an emergency alert warning them of the threat of severe weather.

Keystone Agricultural Producers is planning to collect responses to its survey until the end of March.

"We would really like a basic level of service for a reasonable fee available for everybody," said Connery-Nichol.

"Hopefully with some numbers we can get a little more traction, push a little harder."