Just being connected should not be too much to ask for, according to JCU PhD student William Harrington who has just received a Fulbright scholarship to travel to the United States to study how their agricultural sector is taking on the challenge of internet infrastructure.
The Fulbright foreign exchange program is aimed at increasing the relationship between Australia and the United States, Mr Harrington said it was honour to be selected.
"It's an incredible opportunity and I'm really excited to spend time with big institutions in the U.S."
"I want to get an understanding of what they're doing with problems in connectivity, and hopefully bring that back here."
Mr Harrington lives 50 kilometres north of Richmond, on his family's cattle station in Olga Downs. He said the issue of connectivity was so frustrating he took matters into his own hands.
"The problem became so bad that I was forced to diversify the farming business by starting an internet service provider company simply to purchase more internet capacity," he said.
Mr Harrington set up the Wi-Sky internet service, delivering reliant internet access for farmers and remote communities.
"Our station is too small to support two families and I really wanted to remain in the region. It is a great spot to raise kids and a family. I've always had a passion for technology and Wi-Sky allowed me to bring the two together," he said.
"Regional Australia does not want better services, we want equitable access. We want the same as everybody else."
Mr Harrington completed a degree in computer systems engineering at JCU, and will be examining how the US agricultural sector manages the issue of connectivity as part of his Fulbright scholarship.
"I'll be looking at what technologies they're using, as well as some of their policies as well," Mr Harrington said.
"The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) have a lot of programs to fund rural broadband solutions. I'd like to understand a bit more about that, and see if that's useful to bring back to Australia.
"The United States has similar problems with distance - remote areas with low populations - so they've been solving the same problems we have."
The agricultural sector being left behind in the digital economy is top of Mr Harrington's concerns. The PhD student said that technological innovation is needed, and will only be possible if good internet connectivity is available.
"It reaches across all agricultural sectors, with cropping production systems increasingly relying on connectivity between farm machinery through to livestock systems, which are starting to see the emergence of on-animal monitoring systems. These technologies require some form of connectivity to move data and enable better decision making," he said.
"Due to the costs of providing these services, there are few such internet providers in rural and remote Australia. Unlike the USA, here, there is little government support for this type of business, and without good studies and data the situation will never improve."
Mr Harrington is expected to begin his study at Ohio State University in March 2022.