I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 6867
To create an Office of Conservation Innovation within the Natural Resources
Conservation Service.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER19, 2023
Mr. N
UNNof Iowa (for himself and Ms. SPANBERGER) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To create an Office of Conservation Innovation within the
Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Conservation Innova-4
tion Act of 2023’’. 5
SEC. 2. OFFICE OF CONSERVATION INNOVATION. 6
Section 1242(h) of the Food Security Act of 1985 7
(16 U.S.C. 3842(h)) is amended by adding at the end the 8
following: 9
‘‘(5) O
FFICE OF CONSERVATION INNOVATION .— 10
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•HR 6867 IH
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 1
establish within the Office of the Chief of the 2
Natural Resources Conservation Service an Of-3
fice of Conservation Innovation (referred to in 4
this paragraph as the ‘Office’) which shall be 5
under the direct supervision of the Chief. 6
‘‘(B) D
UTIES.—The Office shall— 7
‘‘(i) provide support to the Chief in 8
meeting the requirements of this sub-9
section; and 10
‘‘(ii) encourage innovation in con-11
servation practices through— 12
‘‘(I) revisions of existing con-13
servation practice standards; 14
‘‘(II) recommendations of interim 15
conservation practice standards; and 16
‘‘(III) recommendations of new 17
conservation practice standards. 18
‘‘(C) S
TAFF.—The Chief shall detail to the 19
Office not more than 6 employees of the De-20
partment of Agriculture who are technical spe-21
cialists that possess an understanding of con-22
ventional, organic, and other production tech-23
niques representing— 24
‘‘(i) agronomy and agroecology; 25
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‘‘(ii) grazing lands ecology (including 1
rangeland, pastureland, and grazed forest 2
land); 3
‘‘(iii) animal husbandry (including 4
animal nutrition and feed management); 5
‘‘(iv) water conservation, drainage 6
water management, and irrigation engi-7
neering technology; 8
‘‘(v) agricultural engineering (includ-9
ing animal waste management, energy, and 10
structural measures); and 11
‘‘(vi) forest ecology. 12
‘‘(6) F
UNDING.—The Secretary shall use fund-13
ing from the annual appropriations for conservation 14
operations of the Natural Resources Conservation 15
Service to carry out this subsection.’’. 16
Æ
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