Senators Deb Fischer (R-NEB) and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) introduced a bill on the senate floor this week that if passed, would create a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development grant program to advance broadband connectivity for agricultural producers nationwide.
The ‘‘Linking Access to Spur Technology for Agriculture Connectivity in Rural Environments Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘LAST ACRE Act’’ would amend the Rural Electrification Act of 1936.
Current broadband programs at the USDA focus on "last mile" deployment, connecting unserved and underserved households in the rural U.S. But the senators have argued there is a need for programming that specifically targets farmland and ranchland.
“It’s time for us to connect the last mile to the last acre. Producers looking to adopt precision agriculture technologies need network connectivity that extends far past their residences. They need to be able to make real-time decisions that increase yields and employ resources more efficiently. Our LAST ACRE Act will ensure that USDA has the strategy and resources needed to support last acre connectivity,” said Senator Fischer in a statement.
The LAST ACRE Act would tap into USDA resources to expand high-speed broadband internet access by incorporating recommendations from the USDA-FCC Precision Ag Connectivity Task Force, established by the 2018 Farm Bill.
The proposed USDA grant program would enable eligible agricultural producers to work with eligible providers, submitting initial bid applications for broadband internet access and wireless network buildouts.
That encompasses broadband internet service connecting structures and devices (tractors, combines, irrigation systems, drones, under-soil sensors, livestock facilities and farm offices) on eligible land and farm sites. It would also include multipoint wireless network connectivity and wireless infrastructure construction, including retrofitting existing vertical structures, such as water towers, grain elevators or center pivots.
In support of the bill, the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) said: “Broadband plays an integral role in connecting our farms, their devices, soil, livestock, and beyond, so they can remain that way. But, because these areas are often geographically remote and hard-to-serve, universal broadband there is not a given.”
“The LAST ACRE Act takes a comprehensive view at what is needed to boost farmland connectivity and creates for the USDA a new, tech-flexible program to build more access for American farmers,” WISPA added.
Additionally, the program would direct the USDA to regularly update the Census of Agriculture to include questions about agricultural producers’ adoption of broadband internet access services, which would document the service speeds they subscribe to and the purposes for which their broadband is used, augmenting data on agricultural broadband needs.
The LAST ACRE program would give priority to applications in the following order: Unserved eligible land in remote areas, other unserved eligible land, underserved eligible land in remote areas and other underserved eligible land.
Nearly one-fourth of zip codes in New Mexico classified as ‘remote,' according to a statement from Senator Luján.
"Underserved" indicates that access to broadband internet access service is under a 100-Mbps downstream transmission capacity and a 20-Mbps upstream transmission capacity, while "unserved" refers to land that lacks access service capable of a speeds over a 25/3-Mbps capacity.
The Bill notes that the LAST ACRE program may give priority to providers that offer “enhanced service speeds” that are greater than 100/20-Mbps.
Competitive Carriers Association (CCA) CEO Tim Donovan lauded the Bill for recognizing “the critical role wireless connectivity plays in rural America and provides opportunities to expand and augment those networks.”
Precision agriculture applications “increasingly relied on in rural farmland, ranches, forest and other areas require enhanced mobile and wireless connectivity,” Donovan added, and the LAST ACRE Act “can help federal USDA support programs provide the ubiquitous wireless connectivity our country’s agriculture community’s diverse needs demand.”