I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1697 

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

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 22, 2023 

Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina (for himself and Mr. MANN) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

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) ADVANCED WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

9 TECHNOLOGY.—The term ‘‘advanced wireless com10 munications technology’’ means advanced technology 


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

2 next-generation Wi-Fi networks, or other future net3 works using other technologies, regardless of wheth4 er the network is operating on an exclusive licensed, 

5 shared licensed, or unlicensed frequency band. 

6 (2) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.—The term ‘‘ar7 tificial intelligence’’ has the meaning given the term 

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

9 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 

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

11 (3) FOREIGN ADVERSARY.—The term ‘‘foreign 

12 adversary’’ means any foreign government or foreign 

13 nongovernment person engaged in a long-term pat14 tern or serious instances of conduct significantly ad15 verse to the national security of the United States, 

16 or security and safety of United States persons. 

17 (4) PRECISION AGRICULTURE.—The term ‘‘pre18 cision agriculture’’ means managing, tracking, or re19 ducing crop or livestock production inputs, including 

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

21 such other inputs as the Secretary determines to be 

22 appropriate, at a heightened level of spatial and tem23 poral granularity to improve efficiencies, reduce 

24 waste, and maintain environmental quality. 


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1 (5) PRECISION AGRICULTURE EQUIPMENT.— 

2 The term ‘‘precision agriculture equipment’’ means 

3 any equipment or technology that directly contrib4 utes to a reduction in, or improved efficiency of, in5 puts used in crop or livestock production, includ6 ing— 

7 (A) global positioning system-based or 

8 geospatial mapping; 

9 (B) satellite or aerial imagery; 

10 (C) yield monitors; 

11 (D) soil mapping; 

12 (E) sensors for gathering data on crop, 

13 soil, and livestock conditions; 

14 (F) Internet of Things and technology that 

15 relies on edge and cloud computing; 

16 (G) data management software and ad17 vanced analytics; 

18 (H) network connectivity products and so19 lutions, including public and private wireless 

20 networks; 

21 (I) global positioning system guidance, 

22 auto-steer systems, autonomous fleeting, and 

23 other machine-to-machine operations; 

24 (J) variable rate technology for applying 

25 inputs, such as section control; and 


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1 (K) any other technology that leads to a 

2 reduction in, or improves efficiency of, crop and 

3 livestock production inputs, which may in4 clude— 

5 (i) seed; 

6 (ii) feed; 

7 (iii) fertilizer; 

8 (iv) chemicals; 

9 (v) water; 

10 (vi) time; 

11 (vii) fuel; and 

12 (viii) such other inputs as the Sec13 retary determines to be appropriate. 

14 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

15 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

16 (7) TRUSTED.—The term ‘‘trusted’’ means, 

17 with respect to a provider of advanced communica18 tions service or a supplier of communications equip19 ment or service, that the Secretary has determined 

20 that the provider or supplier is not owned by, con21 trolled by, or subject to the influence of, a foreign 

22 adversary. 

23 (8) VOLUNTARY CONSENSUS STANDARDS DE24 VELOPMENT ORGANIZATION.—The term ‘‘voluntary 

25 consensus standards development organization’’ 


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1 means an organization that develops standards in a 

2 process that meets the principles for the develop3 ment of voluntary consensus standards (as defined 

4 in the document of the Office of Management and 

5 Budget entitled ‘‘Federal Participation in the Devel6 opment and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards 

7 and in Conformity Assessment Activities’’ (OMB 

8 Circular A–119)). 

9 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 

10 The purposes of this Act are— 

11 (1) to enhance the participation of precision ag12 riculture in the United States; and 

13 (2) to promote United States leadership in vol14 untary consensus standards development organiza15 tions that set standards for precision agriculture. 

16 SEC. 4. INTERCONNECTIVITY STANDARDS FOR PRECISION 

17 AGRICULTURE. 

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

19 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consulta20 tion with the Director of the National Institute of Stand21 ards and Technology and the Federal Communications 

22 Commission, shall— 

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

24 sector-led interconnectivity standards, guidelines, 

25 and best practices for precision agriculture that will 


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1 promote economies of scale and ease the burden of 

2 the adoption of precision agriculture; and 

3 (2) in carrying out paragraph (1)— 

4 (A) coordinate with relevant public and 

5 trusted private sector stakeholders and other 

6 relevant industry organizations, including vol7 untary consensus standards development orga8 nizations; and 

9 (B) consult with sector-specific agencies, 

10 other appropriate agencies, and State and local 

11 governments. 

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

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

14 Communications Commission and the Director of the Na15 tional Institute of Standards and Technology, consider— 

16 (1) the evolving demands of precision agri17 culture; 

18 (2) the connectivity needs of precision agri19 culture equipment; 

20 (3) the cybersecurity challenges facing precision 

21 agriculture, including cybersecurity threats for agri22 culture producers and agriculture supply chains; 

23 (4) the impact of advanced wireless communica24 tions technology on precision agriculture; and 


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1 (5) the impact of artificial intelligence on preci2 sion agriculture. 

3 SEC. 5. GAO ASSESSMENT OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE 

4 STANDARDS. 

5 (a) STUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the Sec6 retary develops standards under section 4, and every 2 

7 years thereafter for the following 8 years, the Comptroller 

8 General of the United States shall conduct a study that 

9 assesses those standards, including the extent to which 

10 those standards, as applicable— 

11 (1) are voluntary; 

12 (2) were developed in coordination with relevant 

13 industry organizations, including voluntary con14 sensus standards development organizations; and 

15 (3) have successfully encouraged the adoption 

16 of precision agriculture. 

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

18 United States shall submit to the Committee on Com19 merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, the 

20 Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 

21 House of Representatives, the Committee on Agriculture 

22 of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on 

23 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a reVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Apr 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1697.IH H1697

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1 port that summarizes the findings of each study conducted 

2 under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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