On this week’s episode of The Back 40 we are joined by Dr. Helen Hambly from the University of Guelph and the Regional & Rural Broadband Project (R2B2).  Dr. Hambly grew up on a farm and has worked in agriculture for many years outside of Canada spending time in South Africa, Latin America and Asia.  Over the last year we have seen a major shift in the way we use the internet and many of us don’t even think twice about not having a reliable internet connection throughout our day.  Unfortunately, this is not the case for many that live in rural locations where up words of 50% of the residents may not have access to a reliable connection.  Dr. Hambly is the Project Leader for the R2B2 project and joins us to discuss the importance of being connected in today’s modern world and the social and economic impact this has on rural communities.