FCC Precision Ag Task Force OKs Final Report

The FCC precision agriculture task force unanimously approved its final report and recommendations to the FCC and Department of Agriculture on the connectivity and technology needs of precision ag, during the final meeting of its initial term. A central focus of Wednesday’s virtual meeting was how the document should address the concept of symmetrical speeds.

It focuses on four key areas. (1) Data mapping best practices (see 2110140061); (2) how to accelerate broadband deployment on unserved agricultural lands; (3) current and future connectivity demands for precision agriculture; (4) ways to encourage the adoption of precision agriculture and the availability of high-quality jobs on connected farms.

“We got to a good spot where we have a solid document, a good executive summary, with some real depth behind it,” said Chair Teddy Bekele, Land O'Lakes chief technology officer. The group agreed the minimum performance characteristics for funding should start at 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps up. The idea was to avoid a rigid symmetrical standard and instead push for higher speeds over time when practical.

The intent of the report needs to “reinforce what’s in the current infrastructure bill,” said John Deere Director-Advanced Technology Dan Leibfried. He added that there’s a need to continue pushing upload speeds for precision ag toward near symmetrical. The final language included “recognizing the need to raise the bar significantly on both upload and download speeds.”

“My big hang-up is mostly around … the phrase how symmetrical standards are technically impractical for wireless technologies,” said Michael Gomes, Topcon Precision Agriculture vice president-business development. Gomes suggested the phrase be removed from the executive summary for consistency. Andy Bater of Fifth Estate Growers suggested the phrase be rewritten to say symmetrical speeds should be considered only for “broad application” terrestrial wireline networks, as the standards are “currently technically impractical” for wireless technologies.

The document recommended that federal agencies use the same threshold for what is considered broadband services, such as more network capacity, and “align all support mechanisms and incentives.” Federal broadband policies "should address the need for bidirectional communication, reliability, and greater speed with a better balance between download and upload levels,” the report said. Networks should be implemented with “greater ... capacity” and this balance is “critical to precision agriculture adoption,” it said.

Some task force members asked whether this would be released for public review before being submitted to the FCC and USDA. Wireline Bureau Telecom Access Policy Division Assistant Chief Jesse Jachman said he will discuss this with colleagues and a version will be released “in the coming days” on the FCC’s website. The document will now undergo technical edits.