Gaps in high-speed Internet service could be hurting Missouri’s largest industry…agriculture. A University of Missouri study finds that agribusiness is directly affected by the availability of broadband service. Tim Haithcoat of the university’s Geographic Resources Center says speed and competitiveness go hand in hand, and 60 percent of Missouri’s agribusinesses say slow Internet service is holding them back.

Haithcoat says the study suggests a need for reallocation of federal money in the Universal Service Fund. That fund receives more than $7-billion a year in fees or taxes on nearly all phone bills. Haithcoat says money from that fund could enhance Missouri’s MO Broadband Now initiative which has spent millions of dollars in state funding on rural broadband programs.