LAST ACRE Act of 2023

This bill amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to create a Last Acre Program for grants and loans to broadband and wireless providers to bring high-speed internet to unserved or underserved agricultural land, and it requires the National Agricultural Statistics Service to collect data on broadband adoption by farms.

Sec. 2, Last Acre Program: The Secretary of Agriculture must establish a competitive grant and loan program for 'covered providers' to deliver 'qualifying connectivity' (at least 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload) to 'eligible land' (cropland, pasture, farm sites, etc.) that is unserved or underserved. Covered providers include broadband internet access service providers and wireless equipment or communications service providers working with them. The program prioritizes projects in this order: unserved eligible land in remote areas, other unserved eligible land, underserved eligible land in remote areas, and other underserved eligible land. The federal share is up to 80% of project costs, or up to 90% for limited resource farmers or ranchers. The application process involves initial bids, a registration portal for providers, a challenge process for providers who already serve the land, and a competitive bidding period. The Secretary selects the lowest-cost bid that best demonstrates ability to meet on-farm connectivity needs. Buildout must be completed within 4 years. Recipients must meet cybersecurity requirements, including a layered defense strategy and a configuration management plan. The Secretary cannot favor or disfavor applicants based on state law. Annual reports to Congress and data sharing with the FCC for broadband maps are required. Up to 10% of funds per year may go to agricultural research centers. The bill repeals an existing section 602 of the Rural Electrification Act.

Sec. 3, National Agricultural Statistics Service data collection on broadband adoption: The Secretary of Agriculture must update the computer usage and ownership survey and the census of agriculture to include questions about whether the respondent subscribes to broadband internet access service for a farm site, and if so, the download and upload speeds and the purposes for which the internet is used, including precision agriculture.