News release: “A new USDA economic analysis has found that rural communities with greater broadband Internet access had greater economic growth than areas with less access. The study, Broadband Internet’s Value for Rural America by economists at USDA’s Economic Research Service, compared counties that had broadband access relatively early – by 2000 – with similarly situated counties that had little or no broadband access. Employment growth was higher and non-farm private earnings greater in counties with a longer history of broadband availability.”