H.R 1697 would direct the Department of Agriculture (USDA), in coordination with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Federal Communications Commission, to develop standards, guidelines, and best practices to improve the use of precision technology in agriculture. Once USDA has developed the standards, the bill would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct biannual studies, to assess their effectiveness and report to the Congress. Precision technology is any equipment or technology, such as geospatial tools, sensor systems, and related software, that improves the efficiency of crop or livestock production.
Using information from USDA about the cost of similar activities, CBO expects that the agency would need five employees over 18 months, at an average annual cost of $160,000, to develop the standards. On that basis, CBO estimates that it would cost the department about $1 million over the 2023-2028 period to develop the standards. In addition, based on the cost of similar activities, CBO estimates that the studies and reports would cost less than $500,000 over the 2023-2028 period.
In total, CBO estimates that those costs would round to $2 million over the 2023-2028 period; any spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
