II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1066

To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy

Act of 1977 to encourage the use of and research into agricultural

best practices to improve the environment, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 18 (legislative day, MAY 14), 1999

Mr. ROBERTS (for himself, Mr. MURKOWSKI, Mr. GRAMS, Mr. HAGEL, and

Mr. CRAIG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the National Agricultural Research, Extension,

and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to encourage the use

of and research into agricultural best practices to improve the environment, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Carbon Cycle and Ag5 ricultural Best Practices Research Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) agricultural producers in the United

2 States—

3 (A) have, in good faith, participated in

4 mandatory and voluntary conservation pro5 grams, the successes of which are unseen by the

6 general public, to preserve natural resources;

7 and

8 (B) have a personal stake in ensuring that

9 the air, water, and soil of the United States are

10 productive since agricultural productivity di11 rectly affects—

12 (i) the economic success of agricul13 tural producers; and

14 (ii) the production of food and fiber

15 for developing and developed nations;

16 (2) in addition to providing food and fiber, agri17 culture serves an environmental role by providing

18 benefits to air, soil, and water through agricultural

19 best practices;

20 (3) those conservation programs and Federal

21 land provide the United States with an enormous

22 potential to increase the quantity of carbon stored in

23 agricultural land and commodities through the car24 bon cycle;
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1 (4) according to the Climate Modeling and

2 Diagnostics Laboratory of the National Oceanic and

3 Atmospheric Administration, North American soils,

4 crops, rangelands, and forests absorbed an equiva5 lent quantity of carbon dioxide emitted from fossil

6 fuel combustion as part of the natural carbon cycle

7 from 1988 through 1992;

8 (5) the estimated quantity of carbon stored in

9 world soils is more than twice the carbon in living

10 vegetation or in the atmosphere;

11 (6) agricultural best practices can increase the

12 quantity of carbon stored in farm soils, crops, and

13 rangeland;

14 (7) although there is a tremendous quantity of

15 carbon stored in soil that supports agricultural oper16 ations in the United States, the quantity of carbon

17 stored in soil may be increased by using a strategy

18 that would benefit the environment without imple19 menting a United Nations-sponsored climate change

20 protocol or treaty;

21 (8) Federal research is needed to identify—

22 (A) the agricultural best practices that

23 supplement the natural carbon cycle; and
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1 (B) Federal conservation programs that

2 can be altered to increase the environmental

3 benefits provided by the natural carbon cycle;

4 (9) increasing soil organic carbon is widely rec5 ognized as a means of increasing agricultural pro6 duction and meeting the growing domestic and inter7 national food consumption needs with a positive en8 vironmental benefit;

9 (10) agricultural best practices include the

10 more efficient use of agriculture inputs and equip11 ment; and

12 (11) tax credits should be offered in order to

13 facilitate the widespread use of more efficient agri14 culture inputs and equipment and to increase envi15 ronmental benefits.

16 SEC. 3. AGRICULTURAL BEST PRACTICES.

17 Title XIV of the National Agricultural Research, Ex18 tension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3101

19 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

20 ‘‘Subtitle N—Carbon Cycle and

21 Agricultural Best Practices

22 ‘‘SEC. 1490. DEFINITIONS.

23 ‘‘In this subtitle:

24 ‘‘(1) AGRICULTURAL BEST PRACTICE.—The

25 term ‘agricultural best practice’ means a voluntary
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1 practice used by 1 or more agricultural producers to

2 manage a farm or ranch that has a beneficial or

3 minimal impact on the environment, including—

4 ‘‘(A) crop residue management;

5 ‘‘(B) soil erosion management;

6 ‘‘(C) nutrient management;

7 ‘‘(D) remote sensing;

8 ‘‘(E) precision agriculture;

9 ‘‘(F) integrated pest management;

10 ‘‘(G) animal waste management;

11 ‘‘(H) cover crop management;

12 ‘‘(I) water quality and utilization manage13 ment;

14 ‘‘(J) grazing and range management;

15 ‘‘(K) wetland management;

16 ‘‘(L) buffer strip use; and

17 ‘‘(M) tree planting.

18 ‘‘(2) CONSERVATION PROGRAM.—The term

19 ‘conservation program’ means a program established

20 under—

21 ‘‘(A) subtitle D of title XII of the Food Se22 curity Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3830 et seq.);

23 ‘‘(B) section 401 or 402 of the Agricul24 tural Credit Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2201,

25 2202);
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1 ‘‘(C) section 3 or 8 of the Watershed Pro2 tection and Flood Prevention Act (16 U.S.C.

3 1003, 1006a); or

4 ‘‘(D) any other provision of law that au5 thorizes the Secretary to make payments or

6 provide other assistance to agricultural pro7 ducers to promote conservation.

8 ‘‘SEC. 1491. CARBON CYCLE AND AGRICULTURAL BEST

9 PRACTICES RESEARCH.

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Department of Agriculture

11 shall be the lead agency with respect to any agricultural

12 soil carbon research conducted by the Federal Govern13 ment.

14 ‘‘(b) RESEARCH SERVICES.—

15 ‘‘(1) AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE.—The

16 Secretary, acting through the Agricultural Research

17 Service, shall collaborate with other Federal agencies

18 to develop data and conduct research addressing soil

19 carbon balance and storage, making special efforts

20 to—

21 ‘‘(A) determine the effects of management

22 and conservation on carbon storage in cropland

23 and grazing land;
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1 ‘‘(B) evaluate the long-term impact of till2 age and residue management systems on the

3 accumulation of organic carbon;

4 ‘‘(C) study the transfer of organic carbon

5 to soil; and

6 ‘‘(D) study carbon storage of commodities.

7 ‘‘(2) NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION

8 SERVICE.—

9 ‘‘(A) RESEARCH MISSIONS.—The research

10 missions of the Secretary, acting through the

11 Natural Resources Conservation Service,

12 include—

13 ‘‘(i) the development of a soil carbon

14 database to—

15 ‘‘(I) provide online access to in16 formation about soil carbon potential

17 in a format that facilitates the use of

18 the database in making land manage19 ment decisions; and

20 ‘‘(II) allow additional and more

21 refined data to be linked to similar

22 databases containing information on

23 forests and rangeland;

24 ‘‘(ii) the conversion to an electronic

25 format and linkage to the national soil
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1 database described in clause (i) of county2 level soil surveys and State-level soil maps;

3 ‘‘(iii) updating of State-level soil

4 maps;

5 ‘‘(iv) the linkage, for information pur6 poses only, of soil information to other soil

7 and land use databases; and

8 ‘‘(v) the completion of evaluations,

9 such as field validation and calibration, of

10 modeling, remote sensing, and statistical

11 inventory approaches to carbon stock as12 sessments related to land management

13 practices and agronomic systems at the

14 field, regional, and national levels.

15 ‘‘(B) UNIT OF INFORMATION.—The Sec16 retary, acting through the Natural Resources

17 Conservation Service, shall disseminate a na18 tional basic unit of information for an assess19 ment of the carbon storage potential of soils in

20 the United States.

21 ‘‘(3) ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE REPORT.—

22 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment

23 of this section, the Secretary, acting through the

24 Economic Research Service, shall submit to the

25 Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep-
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1 resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nu2 trition, and Forestry of the Senate a report that

3 analyzes the impact of the financial health of the

4 farm economy of the United States under the Kyoto

5 Protocol and other international agreements under

6 the Framework Convention on Climate Change—

7 ‘‘(A) with and without market mechanisms

8 (including whether the mechanisms are permits

9 for emissions and whether the permits are

10 issued by allocation, auction, or otherwise);

11 ‘‘(B) with and without the participation of

12 developing countries;

13 ‘‘(C) with and without carbon sinks; and

14 ‘‘(D) with respect to the imposition of tra15 ditional command and control measures.

16 ‘‘(c) CONSORTIA.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may des18 ignate not more than 2 carbon cycle and agricultural

19 best practices research consortia.

20 ‘‘(2) SELECTION.—The consortia designated by

21 the Secretary shall be selected in a competitive man22 ner by the Cooperative State Research, Education,

23 and Extension Service.

24 ‘‘(3) DUTIES.—The consortia shall—
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1 ‘‘(A) identify, develop, and evaluate agri2 cultural best practices using partnerships com3 posed of Federal, State, or private entities and

4 the Department of Agriculture, including the

5 Agricultural Research Service;

6 ‘‘(B) develop necessary computer models to

7 predict and assess the carbon cycle, as well as

8 other priorities requested by the Secretary and

9 the heads of other Federal agencies;

10 ‘‘(C) estimate and develop mechanisms to

11 measure carbon levels made available as a re12 sult of voluntary Federal conservation pro13 grams, private and Federal forests, and other

14 land uses; and

15 ‘‘(D) develop outreach programs, in coordi16 nation with extension services, to share infor17 mation on carbon cycle and agricultural best

18 practices that is useful to agricultural pro19 ducers.

20 ‘‘(4) CONSORTIA PARTICIPANTS.—The partici21 pants in the consortia may include—

22 ‘‘(A) land-grant colleges and universities;

23 ‘‘(B) State geological surveys;

24 ‘‘(C) research centers of the National Aer25 onautics and Space Administration;
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1 ‘‘(D) other Federal agencies;

2 ‘‘(E) representatives of agricultural busi3 nesses and organizations; and

4 ‘‘(F) representatives of the private sector.

5 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

6 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

7 this subsection $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years

8 2000 through 2002.

9 ‘‘(d) PROMOTION OF AGRICULTURAL BEST PRAC10 TICES.—The Secretary shall promote voluntary agricul11 tural best practices that take into account soil organic

12 matter dynamics, carbon cycle, ecology, and soil organisms

13 that will lead to the more effective use of soil resources

14 to—

15 ‘‘(1) enhance the carbon cycle;

16 ‘‘(2) improve soil quality;

17 ‘‘(3) increase the use of renewable resources;

18 and

19 ‘‘(4) overcome unfavorable physical soil prop20 erties.

21 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit

22 to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep23 resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,

24 and Forestry of the Senate an annual report that de25 scribes programs that are or will be conducted by the Sec-
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1 retary, through land-grant colleges and universities, to

2 provide to agricultural producers the results of research

3 conducted on agricultural best practices, including the re4 sults of—

5 ‘‘(1) research;

6 ‘‘(2) future research plans;

7 ‘‘(3) consultations with appropriate scientific

8 organizations;

9 ‘‘(4) proposed extension outreach activities; and

10 ‘‘(5) findings of scientific peer review under sec11 tion 103(d)(1) of the Agricultural Research, Exten12 sion, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C.

13 7613(d)(1)).

14 ‘‘SEC. 1492. CARBON CYCLE REMOTE SENSING TECH15 NOLOGY.

16 ‘‘(a) CARBON CYCLE REMOTE SENSING TECH17 NOLOGY PROGRAM.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coopera19 tion with the Administrator of the National Aero20 nautics and Space Administration, shall develop a

21 carbon cycle remote sensing technology program—

22 ‘‘(A) to provide, on a near-continual basis,

23 a real-time and comprehensive view of vegeta24 tion conditions; and
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1 ‘‘(B) to assess and model agricultural car2 bon sequestration.

3 ‘‘(2) USE OF CENTERS.—The Administrator of

4 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

5 shall use regional earth science application centers

6 to conduct research under this section.

7 ‘‘(3) RESEARCHED AREAS.—The areas that

8 shall be the subjects of research conducted under

9 this section include—

10 ‘‘(A) the mapping of carbon-sequestering

11 land use and land cover;

12 ‘‘(B) the monitoring of changes in land

13 cover and management;

14 ‘‘(C) new systems for the remote sensing

15 of soil carbon; and

16 ‘‘(D) regional-scale carbon sequestration

17 estimation.

18 ‘‘(b) REGIONAL EARTH SCIENCE APPLICATION CEN19 TER.—

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coopera21 tion with the Administrator of the National Aero22 nautics and Space Administration, shall carry out

23 this section through the Regional Earth Science Ap24 plication Center located at the University of Kansas

25 (referred to in this section as the ‘Center’), if the
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1 Center enters into a partnership with a land-grant

2 college or university.

3 ‘‘(2) DUTIES OF CENTER.—The Center shall

4 serve as a research facility and clearinghouse for

5 satellite data, software, research, and related infor6 mation with respect to remote sensing research con7 ducted under this section.

8 ‘‘(3) USE OF CENTER.—The Secretary, in co9 operation with the Administrator of the National

10 Aeronautics and Space Administration, shall use the

11 Center for carrying out remote sensing research re12 lating to agricultural best practices.

13 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

14 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

15 $5,000,000 for fiscal years 2000 through 2002.

16 ‘‘SEC. 1493. CONSERVATION PREMIUM PAYMENTS.

17 ‘‘In addition to payments that are made by the Sec18 retary to producers under conservation programs, the Sec19 retary may offer conservation premium payments to pro20 ducers that are participating in the conservation programs

21 to compensate the producers for allowing researchers to

22 scientifically analyze, and collect information with respect

23 to, agricultural best practices that are carried out by the

24 producers as part of conservation projects and activities
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1 that are funded, in whole or in part, by the Federal Gov2 ernment.

3 ‘‘SEC. 1494. ASSISTANCE FOR AGRICULTURAL BEST PRAC4 TICES AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGE5 MENT PLANS UNDER CONSERVATION PRO6 GRAMS.

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to assistance that is

8 provided by the Secretary to producers under conservation

9 programs, the Secretary, on request of the producers, shall

10 provide education through extension activities and tech11 nical and financial assistance to producers that are par12 ticipating in the conservation programs to assist the pro13 ducers in planning, designing, and installing agricultural

14 best practices and natural resource management plans es15 tablished under the conservation programs.

16 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION TO DEVELOPING NATIONS.—The

17 Secretary shall disseminate to developing nations informa18 tion on agricultural best practices and natural resource

19 management plans that—

20 ‘‘(1) provide crucial agricultural benefits for soil

21 and water quality; and

22 ‘‘(2) increase production.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 1495. CARBON CYCLE RESEARCH MONITORING SYS2 TEM.

3 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, in conjunc4 tion with the Administrator of the National Oceanic and

5 Atmospheric Administration and the United States Global

6 Change Research Program, may establish a nationwide

7 carbon cycle monitoring system (referred to in this section

8 as the ‘monitoring system’) to research the flux of carbon

9 between soil, air, and water.

10 ‘‘(b) PURPOSE OF SYSTEM.—The monitoring system

11 shall focus on locating network monitors on or near agri12 cultural best practices that are—

13 ‘‘(1) undertaken voluntarily;

14 ‘‘(2) undertaken through a conservation pro15 gram of the Department of Agriculture;

16 ‘‘(3) implemented as part of a program or ac17 tivity of the Department of Agriculture; or

18 ‘‘(4) identified by the Administrator of the Na19 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

20 ‘‘(c) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Sec21 retary may enter into a memorandum of understanding

22 with the Administrator of the National Oceanic and At23 mospheric Administration to ensure that research goals of

24 programs established by the Federal Government related

25 to carbon monitoring are met through the monitoring sys26 tem.
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1 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

2 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this subtitle

3 $10,000,000.’’.

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