I
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 8270
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to modernize the conservation
reserve program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY7, 2024
Mr. F
INSTADintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to modernize
the conservation reserve program, and for other purposes.
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 Reserve 4
Program Modernization Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
Subchapter B of chapter 1 of title XII of the Food 7
Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3831 et seq.) is amended 8
by inserting before section 1231 the following: 9
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‘‘SEC. 1230. DEFINITIONS. 1
‘‘In this subchapter: 2
‘‘(1) C
ONSERVATION BUFFER .—The term ‘con-3
servation buffer’ means a practice that, once estab-4
lished, provides a benefit to water quality or another 5
resource concern, including— 6
‘‘(A) a grass sod waterway; 7
‘‘(B) a contour grass sod strip; 8
‘‘(C) a prairie strip; 9
‘‘(D) a filterstrip; 10
‘‘(E) a field border; 11
‘‘(F) a living snow fence; 12
‘‘(G) a riparian buffer; 13
‘‘(H) a shelterbelt or windbreak; 14
‘‘(I) a wetland or a wetland buffer (includ-15
ing a buffer for prairie potholes, a playa, or a 16
pocosin); 17
‘‘(J) a saturated buffer; 18
‘‘(K) a bioreactor; 19
‘‘(L) a wellhead protection area; and 20
‘‘(M) other similar practices, as determined 21
by the Secretary. 22
‘‘(2) E
LIGIBLE LAND.—The term ‘eligible land’ 23
means land that is authorized to be included in the 24
conservation reserve program under section 1231(b). 25
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‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE PARTNER.—The term ‘eligible 1
partner’ means— 2
‘‘(A) a State; 3
‘‘(B) a political subdivision of a State; 4
‘‘(C) an Indian Tribe; or 5
‘‘(D) a nongovernmental organization. 6
‘‘(4) L
AND CAPABILITY CLASS.—The term ‘land 7
capability class’ means a soil classification assigned 8
using the land capability classification system in ef-9
fect on December 23, 1985.’’. 10
SEC. 3. ELIGIBLE LAND. 11
Section 1231(b) of the Food Security Act of 1985 12
(16 U.S.C. 3831(b)) is amended to read as follows: 13
‘‘(b) E
LIGIBLELAND.—The Secretary may include in 14
the conservation reserve program the following: 15
‘‘(1) Cropland that— 16
‘‘(A)(i) on a field level, consists of not less 17
than 85 percent soils with a dryland cropland 18
land capability class of III through VII; or 19
‘‘(ii) cannot be farmed in accordance with 20
a plan that complies with the requirements of 21
subtitle B; and 22
‘‘(B) the Secretary determines had a crop-23
ping history or was considered to be planted for 24
not fewer than 4 of the 6 years preceding the 25
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date of enactment of the Conservation Reserve 1
Program Modernization Act. 2
‘‘(2) Cropland (including prairie potholes, 3
playas, and pocosins within cropland), grasslands, 4
and marginal pasture land (including marginal 5
pastureland converted to wetland or established as 6
wildlife habitat) to be— 7
‘‘(A) devoted to conservation buffers; 8
‘‘(B) established to ecologically appropriate 9
vegetation, including trees, in or near riparian 10
areas, intermittent, seasonal, or perennial 11
streams, wetlands (including prairie potholes, 12
playas, and pocosins), or saline-impaired soils; 13
or 14
‘‘(C) devoted to similar water quality or 15
wildlife habitat practices. 16
‘‘(3) Grasslands that— 17
‘‘(A) contain forbs or shrubland (including 18
improved rangeland and pastureland) for which 19
grazing is the predominant use; 20
‘‘(B) are located in an area historically 21
dominated by grasslands; and 22
‘‘(C) could provide habitat for animal and 23
plant populations of significant ecological value 24
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if the land is retained in its current use or re-1
stored to a natural condition. 2
‘‘(4) Land described in paragraph (1), (2), or 3
(3) that will address significant water quality, water 4
conservation, and wildlife habitat concerns, as pro-5
posed by an eligible partner and agreed to by the 6
Secretary for purposes of section 1231A. 7
‘‘(5) The portion of land in a field not enrolled 8
in the conservation reserve in a case in which— 9
‘‘(A) more than 50 percent of the land in 10
the field is enrolled as a buffer or filterstrip, or 11
more than 75 percent of the land in the field 12
is enrolled as a conservation practice other than 13
as a buffer or filterstrip; and 14
‘‘(B) the Secretary determines that the re-15
mainder of the field is infeasible to farm.’’. 16
SEC. 4. MULTIPLE ENROLLMENTS. 17
Section 1234(d)(2)(B) of the Food Security Act of 18
1985 (16 U.S.C. 3834(d)(2)(B)) is amended to read as 19
follows: 20
‘‘(B) M
ULTIPLE ENROLLMENTS .— 21
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 22
subparagraph (A), if land subject to a con-23
tract entered into under this subchapter is 24
reenrolled pursuant to section 1231(g), the 25
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annual rental payment shall be in an 1
amount that is not more than the applica-2
ble percentage of the relevant county aver-3
age soil rental rate for the year in which 4
the reenrollment occurs (as determined 5
under paragraph (4)(E)). 6
‘‘(ii) A
PPLICABLE PERCENTAGE .—For 7
purposes of clause (i), the applicable per-8
centage shall be— 9
‘‘(I) for the first reenrollment 10
that occurs after the date of enact-11
ment, 85 percent; and 12
‘‘(II) for each subsequent 13
re1enrollment, the percentage that is 14
10 percentage points less than the 15
percentage that was applicable to the 16
preceding reenrollment.’’. 17
SEC. 5. RENTAL RATES. 18
Section 1234(d)(4)(E) of the Food Security Act of 19
1985 (16 U.S.C. 3834(d)(4)(E)) is amended to read as 20
follows: 21
‘‘(E) R
ENTAL RATE LIMITATION .—The 22
county average soil rental rate (before any ad-23
justments relating to specific practices, wellhead 24
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protection, or soil productivity) shall not ex-1
ceed— 2
‘‘(i) for eligible land consisting of soils 3
with a dryland cropland land capability 4
class of I or II that is enrolled under the 5
general enrollment option or the conserva-6
tion reserve enhancement program, 85 per-7
cent of the estimated rental rate deter-8
mined under this paragraph; 9
‘‘(ii) for eligible land consisting of 10
soils with a dryland cropland land capa-11
bility class of III that is enrolled under the 12
general enrollment option or the conserva-13
tion reserve enhancement program, 100 14
percent of the estimated rental rate deter-15
mined under this paragraph; 16
‘‘(iii) for eligible land consisting of 17
soils with a dryland cropland land capa-18
bility class of IV through VII that is en-19
rolled under the general enrollment option 20
or the conservation reserve enhancement 21
program, 115 percent of the estimated 22
rental rate determined under this para-23
graph; and 24
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‘‘(iv) for eligible land enrolled under 1
the continuous enrollment option, 100 per-2
cent of the estimated rental rate deter-3
mined under this paragraph, without re-4
gard to the land capability class of the 5
soil.’’. 6
SEC. 6. COST-SHARING PAYMENTS. 7
Section 1234(b)(1) of the Food Security Act of 1985 8
(16 U.S.C. 3834(b)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 9
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In making cost-sharing 10
payments to an owner or operator under a contract 11
entered into under this subchapter, the Secretary 12
shall pay 50 percent of the cost of, as the Secretary 13
determines appropriate and in the public interest— 14
‘‘(A) establishing permanent vegetation, in-15
cluding site preparation, cover, fertilizer, seed-16
ing, and planting; 17
‘‘(B) carrying out erosion control practices 18
necessary to stabilize the site for vegetation es-19
tablished under subparagraph (A); 20
‘‘(C) installing fencing to protect riparian 21
areas and buffers; 22
‘‘(D) carrying out water development prac-23
tices associated with excluding livestock from 24
protected riparian areas; 25
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‘‘(E) installing fencing and carrying out 1
water development practices to facilitate transi-2
tion to livestock grazing on lands enrolled under 3
the grasslands enrollment option; 4
‘‘(F) conducting the necessary and appro-5
priate mid-contract management activities to 6
maintain the permanent cover and associated 7
benefits; and 8
‘‘(G) carrying out other water quality con-9
servation measures and practices.’’. 10
Æ
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