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Creates a USDA program to extend high-speed broadband to unserved and underserved agricultural land and to support precision agriculture by funding buildout, setting program rules, and prioritizing the most remote farm sites. Requires the Department of Agriculture’s statistics office to add farm‑level broadband questions to the Census of Agriculture and the computer usage survey so data on subscription status, speeds, and uses (including precision agriculture) are collected. The program must be established within one year, will use grants and loans with bidding, cybersecurity, buildout timelines, and reporting requirements, and may prioritize the most remote or unserved lands for funding or expedited review.
Establish a program called the Last Acre Program to make grants and loans, on a competitive basis, to covered providers to provide qualifying connectivity to unserved and underserved eligible land.
The Secretary must establish the Last Acre Program not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this section.
Defines qualifying connectivity as service capable of at least 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream and performing at least one enumerated activity (e.g., providing broadband to farm devices, multipoint wireless connectivity, or building/retrofit wireless infrastructure).
Defines 'unserved' eligible land as land lacking access to service of at least 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream; defines 'underserved' as lacking access to at least 100 Mbps downstream and 20 Mbps upstream.
Defines covered producer, covered provider, eligible land, farm site, limited resource farmer or rancher, precision agriculture, remote area, configuration management plan, and Commission (FCC) as used in the section.
Who is affected and how:
Owners/operators of commercial farms and farm producers: Direct beneficiaries—will gain access to grant and loan funding to extend broadband to farm sites, enabling precision-agriculture tools (telemetry, remote sensing, automated machinery, real-time data transfer). Improved connectivity can increase productivity, reduce input use, and enable new digital services.
Agricultural communities and rural residents: Wider farm connectivity can spill over to local communities (improved local internet access, business opportunities, telehealth/education). Prioritizing the most remote lands targets communities historically left out of broadband buildouts.
Telecommunications and broadband service providers: Potential awardees and partners—providers able to bid for funding will be subject to program technical, cybersecurity, and buildout requirements; funding may create new market opportunities but also require compliance with performance milestones.
Precision agriculture technology firms and service vendors (proposed group): Increased farm connectivity raises demand for precision-agriculture hardware, software, and data services, expanding markets for agritech companies and service providers.
USDA / NASS and data users: NASS must expand data collection and processing to include farm-level broadband metrics; USDA gains better information for targeting future programs and for measuring adoption/impact. Improved data may also inform state and local planning.
Potential benefits:
Potential challenges and costs:
Expand sections to see detailed analysis
LAST ACRE Act of 2025
Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced May 6, 2025 by Brad Finstad · Last progress May 6, 2025
Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced in House