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Congress·In Committee·10 months ago

Congress proposes Agriculture Department grants and loans to boost high-speed internet on farm land

Also known as: LAST ACRE Act of 2025

Legislative Progress

✓ Filed
Review
House
Senate
President

Impacts

Mixed Impacts(2)
Renter
Neutral
Homeowner
Neutral
Positive Impacts(2)
Small Business Owner
Helps
Farmer Rancher
Helps

Key Points

  • Creates a new Agriculture Department program to give competitive grants and loans to providers to bring high-speed internet to unserved or underserved farm and ranch land.
  • Sets the target service at at least 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload, meant to support things like connected tractors, irrigation systems, sensors, drones, livestock facilities, and farm offices.
  • Prioritizes the most isolated places first: unserved farm land in remote areas, then other unserved areas, then underserved remote areas, then other underserved areas.
  • Limits what the money can do: it can’t be used to wire homes already marked as serviceable on federal broadband maps, and it can’t be used to build service for nearby non-farm areas as a regular commercial expansion.
  • Requires basic cybersecurity steps for funded networks and gives small/low-income farm operations a better deal by allowing up to a 90% federal cost share (normally up to 80%).
AgricultureTelecommunicationsCybersecurity

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions
May 6, 2025House

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.

May 6, 2025

Introduced in House

Related News

1 article
Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) Newsroom·10 months ago

AEM Urges Congressional Support for Bipartisan Precision Agriculture Bills

The equipment manufacturers group urges Congress to back several precision-ag bills, including the LAST ACRE Act, highlighting connectivity needs for advanced farm technology.

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Source Information

Document Type

Congressional Bill

Official Title

LAST ACRE Act of 2025

Bill NumberHR 3212
Congress119th Congress
ChamberHouse of Representatives
Latest ActionReferred 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.

Sponsor

Cosponsors

(1)
D: 1

Analysis generated by AI. While we strive for accuracy, this should not be considered legal or professional advice. Always verify information with official government sources.