How the Farm Bill could subsidize a revolution in high-tech farming

The ongoing Farm Bill negotiations may mean linking millions of Americans to the 21st-century economy and taking a step toward the broader dream of high-tech agriculture. Since the last Farm Bill was passed in 2018, the federal government has spent billions to try to bring high-speed internet to the nearly 12 million rural households that don’t have it. The $1.4 trillion omnibus Farm Bill will fund and set guidelines around federal subsidies for causes ranging from rural energy, crop insurance, and, above all, nutrition. Since 2018, high-speed internet — once seen as a luxury — has been discussed in the same vital terms as issues like disaster funding for drought. The Farm Bill package passed in that year included funding for the Reconnect program, which subsidizes broadband providers to bring high-speed internet to rural areas that lack it. One impetus behind the push for rural broadband is unleashing the economic potential of rural America. Large-scale agriculture in America relies on farm equipment like tractors and combines that are increasingly in continual contact and conversation with satellites overhead, and moisture and soil sensors in the fields — allowing for the precise and automated delivery of seed, water, pesticides, and fertilizer. The report suggested many future farm tasks could be carried out by drones — which can save considerable weight if they can rely on the cloud computing possibilities of the wider internet for some of their processing. This, however, requires broadband.