The nation's farmers desperately need access to broadband internet links, and they need it more than many "townies" says Federated Farmers.
"We have no choice but to use the internet." said the federation's telecommunications spokesman, Donald Aubrey.
"It's more important to us than it is for many urban dwellers."
Mr Aubrey told a federation conference in Christchurch today that the "dial-up" modem speeds for many rural subscribers to the internet was "painful".
"It can take some of our members an excruciating two to three minutes just to download the front page of the federation's website.
"This takes less than half-a-second in the city."
Farmers realise the cost of broadband networks were high and the number of subscribers in rural areas were limited, but that small population supplied the food and fibre exports on which much of the economy relied.
"For this sector to provide the nation with its wealth, and everyday New Zealanders with their incomes we must remain competitive," said Mr Aubrey, who chairs the federation's high country committee in South Canterbury.
He said satellite links at $100 a month were expensive "and the quality is at times not as good as we'd like."
Mr Aubrey rejected a tongue-in-cheek proposal by Ernie Newman of the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand that farmers themselves could roll-out the fibre optic cable in rural areas to save money.
"Broadband is not an optional extra for farmers - it is a necessity if we are to continue to remain competitive in global markets and if New Zealanders are to retain first world standards of living," he said. "It's great that businesses in the cities have broadband and I am pleased for them.
"But the reality is that food production provides 47 percent of our nation's export earnings and that about 40 percent of all New Zealanders are employed directly or indirectly in the food industry ... New Zealand is still essentially a large farm."
But farming now needed to escape the geographic isolation that once set New Zealand apart from the rest of the world.
"We need access to information and contact with people just as much as a consultant working on Queen St (Auckland)."
Farmers rely on computers and the internet for market information, farm management data, and contact with authorities, farmer networks and suppliers, and transport companies, and broadband was a necessity for those wanting to run tourism businesses.
