II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 734 

To enhance the participation of precision agriculture in the United States, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 9, 2023 

Mr. THUNE (for himself and Mr. WARNOCK) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To enhance the participation of precision agriculture in the 

United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Precision 

5 Agriculture Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) 3GPP.—The term ‘‘3GPP’’ means the 

9 Third Generation Partnership Project. 


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1 (2) ADVANCED WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

2 TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘advanced wireless com3 munications technology’’ means advanced technology 

4 that contributes to mobile (5G or beyond) networks, 

5 next-generation Wi-Fi networks, or other future net6 works using other technologies, regardless of wheth7 er the network is operating on an exclusive licensed, 

8 shared licensed, or unlicensed frequency band. 

9 (3) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.—The term ‘‘ar10 tificial intelligence’’ has the meaning given the term 

11 in section 238(g) of the John S. McCain National 

12 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 

13 (Public Law 115–232; 10 U.S.C. note prec. 4061). 

14 (4) FOREIGN ADVERSARY.—The term ‘‘foreign 

15 adversary’’ means any foreign government or foreign 

16 nongovernment person engaged in a long-term pat17 tern or serious instances of conduct significantly ad18 verse to the national security of the United States, 

19 or security and safety of United States persons. 

20 (5) PRECISION AGRICULTURE.—The term ‘‘pre21 cision agriculture’’ means managing, tracking, or re22 ducing crop or livestock production inputs, including 

23 seed, feed, fertilizer, chemicals, water, time, and 

24 such other inputs as the Secretary determines to be 

25 appropriate, at a heightened level of spatial and temVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Mar 17, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S734.IS S734

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1 poral granularity to improve efficiencies, reduce 

2 waste, and maintain environmental quality. 

3 (6) PRECISION AGRICULTURE EQUIPMENT.— 

4 The term ‘‘precision agriculture equipment’’ means 

5 any equipment or technology that directly contrib6 utes to a reduction in, or improved efficiency of, in7 puts used in crop or livestock production, includ8 ing— 

9 (A) global positioning system-based or 

10 geospatial mapping; 

11 (B) satellite or aerial imagery; 

12 (C) yield monitors; 

13 (D) soil mapping; 

14 (E) sensors for gathering data on crop, 

15 soil, and livestock conditions; 

16 (F) Internet of Things and technology that 

17 relies on edge and cloud computing; 

18 (G) data management software and ad19 vanced analytics; 

20 (H) network connectivity products and so21 lutions, including public and private wireless 

22 networks; 

23 (I) global positioning system guidance, 

24 auto-steer systems, autonomous fleeting, and 

25 other machine-to-machine operations; 


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1 (J) variable rate technology for applying 

2 inputs, such as section control; and 

3 (K) any other technology that leads to a 

4 reduction in, or improves efficiency of, crop and 

5 livestock production inputs, which may in6 clude— 

7 (i) seed; 

8 (ii) feed; 

9 (iii) fertilizer; 

10 (iv) chemicals; 

11 (v) water; 

12 (vi) time; 

13 (vii) fuel; 

14 (viii) emissions; and 

15 (ix) such other inputs as the Sec16 retary determines to be appropriate. 

17 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

18 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

19 (8) TRUSTED.—The term ‘‘trusted’’ means, 

20 with respect to a provider of advanced communica21 tions service or a supplier of communications equip22 ment or service, that the Secretary has determined 

23 that the provider or supplier is not owned by, con24 trolled by, or subject to the influence of, a foreign 

25 adversary. 


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1 (9) VOLUNTARY CONSENSUS STANDARDS DE2 VELOPMENT ORGANIZATION.— 

3 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘voluntary 

4 consensus standards development organization’’ 

5 means an organization that develops standards 

6 in a process that meets the principles for the 

7 development of voluntary consensus standards 

8 (as defined in the document of the Office of 

9 Management and Budget entitled ‘‘Federal Par10 ticipation in the Development and Use of Vol11 untary Consensus Standards and in Conformity 

12 Assessment Activities’’ (OMB Circular A–119)). 

13 (B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘voluntary 

14 consensus standards development organization’’ 

15 includes the 3GPP, the Alliance for Tele16 communications Industry Solutions, the Agri17 cultural Industry Electronics Foundation, and 

18 the Global System for Mobile Communications 

19 Association. 

20 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

21 The purposes of this Act are— 

22 (1) to enhance the participation of precision ag23 riculture in the United States; and 


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1 (2) to promote United States leadership in vol2 untary consensus standards development organiza3 tions that set standards for precision agriculture. 

4 SEC. 4. INTERCONNECTIVITY STANDARDS FOR PRECISION 

5 AGRICULTURE. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

7 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consulta8 tion with the Director of the National Institute of Stand9 ards and Technology, shall— 

10 (1) develop voluntary, consensus-based, private 

11 sector-led interconnectivity standards, guidelines, 

12 and best practices for precision agriculture that will 

13 promote economies of scale and ease the burden of 

14 the adoption of precision agriculture; and 

15 (2) in carrying out paragraph (1)— 

16 (A) coordinate with relevant public and 

17 trusted private sector stakeholders and other 

18 relevant industry organizations, including vol19 untary consensus standards development orga20 nizations; and 

21 (B) consult with sector-specific agencies, 

22 other appropriate agencies, and State and local 

23 governments. 

24 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—The Secretary, in carrying 

25 out subsection (a), shall, in consultation with the Federal 


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1 Communications Commission and the Director of the Na2 tional Institute of Standards and Technology, consider— 

3 (1) the evolving demands of precision agri4 culture; 

5 (2) the connectivity needs of precision agri6 culture equipment; 

7 (3) the cybersecurity challenges facing precision 

8 agriculture, including cybersecurity threats for agri9 culture producers and agriculture supply chains; 

10 (4) the impact of advanced wireless communica11 tions technology on precision agriculture; and 

12 (5) the impact of artificial intelligence on preci13 sion agriculture. 

14 SEC. 5. GAO ASSESSMENT OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE 

15 STANDARDS. 

16 (a) STUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the Sec17 retary develops standards under section 4, and every 2 

18 years thereafter for the following 8 years, the Comptroller 

19 General of the United States shall conduct a study that 

20 assesses those standards, including the extent to which 

21 those standards, as applicable— 

22 (1) are voluntary; 

23 (2) were developed in coordination with relevant 

24 industry organizations, including voluntary con25 sensus standards development organizations; and 


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1 (3) have successfully encouraged the adoption 

2 of precision agriculture. 

3 (b) REPORT.—The Comptroller General of the 

4 United States shall submit to the Committee on Com5 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 

6 Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 

7 House of Representatives a report that summarizes the 

8 findings of each study conducted under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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