Shortcomings should be fixed in 2023 spectrum allocation.Ottawa-Internet service for rural and small town Canadians lags well behind what's available in large urban centres and the federal government needs to correct the situation, says Mike Dittrick, Director of Business Development at Telus Agriculture.The wireless spectrum allocation scheduled for next year is critical to making full 5G service available to rural residents, Dittrick told a webinar organized by the Agri-Food Innovation Council. Rural Canada has been disadvantaged in past spectrum allocations because the government has not ensured that all of the assigned bandwidth was actually used.The new allocation could be a game changer if the government makes sure all the assigned allocations are used, he said. Better Internet service is crucial to farmers wanting to utilize new farm management technologies. “There is so much more we could do to improve rural communications and help underserved communities. We have to make them more accessible.”He said new technologies offer a glimmer of hope with the move to wireless from fiber-based systems because they will enable rural resident to have better access to government and industry. Under the federal Universal Broadband Fund, the federal government is aiming to connect 98 per cent of Canadians by 2026 and 100 per cent by 2030.Heather Watson, Executive Director of Farm Management Canada, said better Internet service could help producers better manage their operations. “There is a lot of frustration at not being able to access information that's available in other areas. We want to see the same enthusiasm for helping producers manage their operation as we see for other uses.” Good connectivity would help grain farmers monitor the health of their crops.Alanna Hantiw, Mayor of Sturgeon, Alta, said, “There are so many players in agrifood that it's hard to get agreement on what should be done.” Bringing rural internet service up to urban levels could attract workers to smaller communities and drive innovation in the rural sectors such as agriculture and forestry. Farms from large to small would benefit from access to better information and services.Government needs to take a leadership role in making it happen because few Canadians understand how the expansion of better Internet service is supposed to happen, she said.Dittrick said that connectivity and Internet speeds in urban areas are way ahead of rural areas and much of the technology that enables the higher levels of service won't work in rural areas until 5G becomes available. 5G needs to be included in the spectrum allocation because “it can go a long way to providing the high speed network to rural Canadians.”