Daines bill supports 21st century farming methods via expanded broadband

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) on Jan. 25 introduced bipartisan legislation supporting expanded rural broadband internet service enabling American farmers and ranchers to use innovative methods known as precision agriculture.

“Montana farmers and ranchers need access to the farming tools of the 21st century to compete on a level playing field,” said Sen. Daines in introducing the Precision Agriculture Connectivity Act of 2018, S. 2343.

Precision agriculture involves farm and ranch production management via technologies such as mobile devices, robotics, field sensors, and remote monitoring, according to a summary provided by Daines’ office. Farmers and ranchers would be able to boost their crop yields, increase operational efficiency and reduce costs using these technologies.

In fact, studies estimate that by 2050 the use of precision agriculture technologies, which allow farmers to collect real-time data about their fields, could reduce agricultural operation costs up to $25 per acre and increase farm yields up to 70 percent, according to the bill’s text.

At the same time, however, farmers also must have reliable broadband service to run such technologies — and high-speed internet service isn’t consistently available in rural areas, Daines said. “We must close the rural digital divide for Montana’s top economic drivers,” said the senator.

“Precision agriculture has the ability to make Montana’s farms more efficient, but only if they have good, reliable and affordable internet access,” agreed Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, a farmer from the small Montana town of Big Sandy, who joined Daines in introducing the bill.

To meet the connectivity and technology requirements associated with precision agriculture, S. 2343 would establish a new U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) task force charged with identifying broadband coverage gaps on ranchland and cropland across the United States and create a guide of all federal initiatives supporting such coverage, according to a summary from Daines’ office.

Working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the FCC task force would make policy recommendations promoting both fixed and mobile broadband service deployment on these lands. The goal would be to successfully provide service on 95 percent of these areas by 2025.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee for its consideration. U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) signed on as original cosponsors.