The effort will boost wireless coverage at the Whitewater location and extend broadband connectivity to residents in the Whitewater region.
MKC announces a collaboration with Land O’Lakes and Verizon to expand broadband internet access to residents of Whitewater, KS and the surrounding community. Through this partnership, a wireless communications tower has
been built and turned on by Verizon at the MKC Whitewater facility. This effort to improve
connectivity has the potential to provide residents in this rural area with additional broadband services in their homes.
Not only is broadband increasingly critical to daily life, it also enables precision agriculture,
increasing yields, improving productivity, and boosting profits. Yet, according to the Federal
Communications Commission, more than 14.5 million Americans do not have access to
broadband, specifically in rural areas, where more than 17% of Americans lack access.
However, some claim the number is even higher, Broadband Now estimates that 42 million
Americans do not have access to broadband. This effort by MKC, Verizon and Land O’Lakes
aims to address these gaps.
This project is part of ongoing efforts by Land O’Lakes and Verizon to address the rural
broadband gap across the United States, and MKC is part of the Land O’Lakes member
network. Through its American Connection Project, Land O’Lakes, along with its cooperative
network, are helping to bridge the digital divide with awareness and advocacy.
“This partnership will bring a high-speed service option to many residents in our surrounding communities,” said Erik Lange, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at MKC. “We are excited for what this will mean to those impacted by this project and how it will allow us to better serve our member owners. We are working towards real time notifications to our member owners while in the field and closing the digital divide is critical to accomplish this.” & we are so excited to be working with MKC to bring real solutions for the lack of broadband access in these communities,” said Teddy Bekele, Chief Technology Officer at Land O’Lakes. “As a farmer-owned co-op, Land O'Lakes works to support job creation and vibrant communities where our members and their families work and live. We will continue to develop more ways to increase access to digital connectivity for all Americans.
The work we’re doing with Land O’Lakes and MKC is so important in many ways and ladders back to our respective efforts to close the digital divide and bring connectivity to rural areas,” said Andy Brady, Vice President, Enterprise Sales, Verizon Business. “The work at MKC’s Whitewater facility and in Whitewater, KS, is hopefully just the start of an ongoing
connectivity expansion effort.”
