Welsh farmers want more fibre and wireless connections to help speed up broadband connections to their farms and cut the number of "not-spots" in the countryside.
That was the message delivered by Farmers' Union of Wales deputy president Glyn Roberts at the Royal Welsh Show today (Wednesday July 20).
He called for a similar scheme to one being rolled out in Cornwall where superfast broadband is expected to be available at half of the county's telephone exchanges by the autumn of next year.
"One of the objectives of us union officials is to create a favourable environment for members to run a sustainable agricultural business. One tool in this tool box is to have as good as possible a connection in terms of broadband.
"Welsh farmers want more fibre and wireless connections to help speed up broadband reception to their farms and cut the number of 'not-spots' in the countryside.
"We now have a chance to make this possible. Some important examples of services on the internet for agriculture are VAT, self assessment tax and BCMS cattle movement.
"There are a vast number of other usages that can increase the efficiency of our business e.g. benchmarking, trading on line and general research.
"Statistically, even back in 2001, New Zealand farmers who used IT had a 5% higher profit margin compared to those that did not see the advantages of using IT.
"Internet retail sales in the UK hit £22 billion in 2010 compared to £9 billion in 2006 and it is set to grow by a further £14 billion by 2014.
"It is also essential that our children and other members of our rural communities should have fast broadband internet access so that they are not left behind the rest of the country.
"A successful Internet broadband project was launched in Cornwall, so let us in Wales exploit the same opportunity and get the same benefits.
The Cornwall project is expected to create 4,000 new jobs and protect a further 2,000 existing jobs. It will make Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly one of the best connected places in the world.
"The FUW has been calling for improved broadband services for almost a decade. We want to see rural Wales becoming equally well connected to broadband as Cornwall," Mr Roberts added.