Source: Elizabeth Friend, WUNC, 4/2/19


Lack of reliable high-speed internet access is a persistent problem in rural North Carolina, but small broadband companies are springing up across the state to meet the needs of underserved communities. On a 30-acre farm in Duplin County, Ronald Simmons tends to his hogs. Since 2012, he’s run Master Blend Family Farms, a small scale operation where pigs forage among the trees in wooded pastures. In addition to pork, he grows corn, cabbage, watermelons and other produce, and sells them all from his Kenansville farm store.

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