I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4865 

To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to establish a conservation 

practice-based pilot program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 19, 2018 

Mr. NOLAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to establish a 

conservation practice-based pilot program, 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 ‘‘Crop Insurance Mod5 ernization Act of 2018’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE ACT. 

7 (a) DEFINITION OF BEGINNING FARMER OR RANCH8 ER.—Section 502(b)(3) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act 

9 (7 U.S.C. 1502(b)(3)) is amended— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘tenant,’’; and 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘5 crop years’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘10 crop years’’. 

3 (b) MANAGEMENT OF CORPORATION.—Section 

4 505(a)(2) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 

5 1505(a)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(H) One person who— 

8 ‘‘(i) shall serve as a nonvoting ex offi9 cio member; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) is— 

11 ‘‘(I) the Chief of the Natural Re12 sources Conservation Service; or 

13 ‘‘(II) an expert on the relation14 ship between conservation activities, 

15 farm production, and risk.’’. 

16 (c) COLLECTION AND SHARING OF INFORMATION.— 

17 Section 506(h) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 

18 U.S.C. 1506(h)) is amended— 

19 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, risks re20 lated to natural resources,’’ after ‘‘losses’’; and 

21 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘purpose of establishing’’ 

23 and inserting the following: ‘‘purposes of— 

24 ‘‘(A) establishing’’; 


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1 (B) by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; 

2 and’’; and 

3 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(B) understanding the impact of soil 

5 type, soil quality, and conservation practices on 

6 risk rating.’’. 

7 (d) COVER CROP TERMINATION.—Section 508 of the 

8 Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1508) is amend9 ed— 

10 (1) in subsection (a)(3)— 

11 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

12 clause (iii) and inserting the following: 

13 ‘‘(iii) the failure of the producer to 

14 follow good farming practices, including— 

15 ‘‘(I) scientifically sound, sustain16 able, and organic farming practices; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(II) acceptable conservation ac19 tivities, including those approved by 

20 the Natural Resources Conservation 

21 Service.’’; and 

22 (B) in subparagraph (B), by adding at the 

23 end the following: 

24 ‘‘(iv) SAFE HARBOR.— 


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1 ‘‘(I) DEFINITION OF ‘COVER

2 CROP TERMINATION’.—In this clause, 

3 the term ‘cover crop termination’ 

4 means a practice that historically and 

5 under reasonable circumstances re6 sults in termination of the targeted 

7 cover crop. 

8 ‘‘(II) CONSERVATION ACTIV9 ITY.—A good farming practice in10 cludes a conservation activity, such as 

11 cover crop management, cover crop 

12 termination, and an agronomic man13 agement activity, that is recognized 

14 by— 

15 ‘‘(aa) the Natural Resources 

16 Conservation Service; or 

17 ‘‘(bb) an agricultural expert 

18 operating in the area in which 

19 the conservation activity is occur20 ring.’’; and 

21 (2) in subsection (j), by adding at the end the 

22 following: 

23 ‘‘(6) OMBUDSPERSON.—The Secretary shall es24 tablish an ombudsperson in the Corporation who 

25 shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) assist producers with under2 standing— 

3 ‘‘(i) the process of appealing claim de4 nials; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) the rights of producers in denied 

6 or arbitrated claims; 

7 ‘‘(B) obtain rule clarifications; and 

8 ‘‘(C) perform other duties as determined 

9 by the Secretary.’’. 

10 (e) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.—Section 522(c) 

11 of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1522(c)) is 

12 amended— 

13 (1) in paragraph (19)— 

14 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘, 

15 with a liability limitation of $1,500,000,’’; and 

16 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

17 subparagraph: 

18 ‘‘(E) PAPERWORK REDUCTION.—The Cor19 poration shall conduct activities or enter into 

20 contracts to carry out research and development 

21 to develop a paperwork reduction policy that— 

22 ‘‘(i) is only available to operations 

23 with less than $1,000,000 in revenue; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) streamlines the purchase and ap25 proval process to the maximum extent posVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Jan 23, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4865.IH H4865

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1 sible while maintaining actuarial sound2 ness.’’; and 

3 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(25) REPORT ON BEGINNING FARMER BAR5 RIERS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of en6 actment of this paragraph, the Corporation shall 

7 submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the 

8 House of Representatives and the Committee on Ag9 riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, a 

10 report that includes— 

11 ‘‘(A) an assessment of the barriers for be12 ginning farmers in accessing crop insurance, in13 cluding insurance under paragraph (19); and 

14 ‘‘(B) recommendations to address those 

15 barriers. 

16 ‘‘(26) REPORT ON EXPANSION OF REVENUE

17 POLICY AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 1 year after 

18 the date of the enactment of this paragraph, and an19 nually thereafter, the Corporation, in consultation 

20 with the Risk Management Agency, shall submit to 

21 the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep22 resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nu23 trition, and Forestry of the Senate, a report that in24 cludes— 


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1 ‘‘(A) with respect to the year preceding 

2 such report, the 10 most widely grown crops by 

3 acreage that— 

4 ‘‘(i) have yield policies; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) do not have revenue policies; and 

6 ‘‘(B) the feasibility of developing a revenue 

7 policy for each one of the crops described in 

8 subparagraph (A).’’. 

9 (f) CONSERVATION PRACTICE-BASED PILOT PRO10 GRAM.—Section 523 of the Federal Crop Insurance Act 

11 (7 U.S.C. 1523) is amended by adding at the end the fol12 lowing new subsection: 

13 ‘‘(j) CONSERVATION PRACTICE-BASED PILOT PRO14 GRAM.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Corporation shall 

16 carry out a pilot program to provide premium sub17 sidies of up to 10 percentage points to eligible pro18 ducers. 

19 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF STATES.— 

20 The Corporation shall carry out premium subsidies 

21 under this subsection in not more than 6 States with 

22 a high State-average loss ratio, as determined by the 

23 Secretary. 


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1 ‘‘(3) EXPIRATION.—The pilot program shall ex2 pire on a date that is not before 5 years after the 

3 date of the enactment of this subsection. 

4 ‘‘(4) REPORT.—The Corporation shall publish a 

5 report evaluating the participating producers yield 

6 records and the success of the pilot in encouraging 

7 conservation— 

8 ‘‘(A) 1 year after the date of the enact9 ment of this subsection; 

10 ‘‘(B) 3 years after the date of the enact11 ment of this subsection; and 

12 ‘‘(C) 5 years after the date of the enact13 ment of this subsection. 

14 ‘‘(5) ELIGIBLE PRODUCER DEFINED.—In this 

15 subsection, the term ‘eligilbe producer’ means a pro16 ducer— 

17 ‘‘(A) of a farm in a high loss county; and 

18 ‘‘(B) that commits to practice conservation 

19 tillage, cover crops, or resource-conserving crop 

20 rotations on such farm for at least 5 years.’’. 

21 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO FOOD SECURITY ACT OF 1985. 

22 (a) CONSERVATION PLANS.—Section 1213 of the 

23 Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3812a) is amend24 ed— 


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1 (1) by adding at the end the following new sub2 section: 

3 ‘‘(g) SPOT CHECKS.—The Secretary shall, using 

4 funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation, conduct an5 nual spot checks of at least 5 percent of applicable farms 

6 in each State to ensure compliance with this subtitle.’’; 

7 and 

8 (2) in subsection (d)— 

9 (A) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

10 paragraph (6); and 

11 (B) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 

12 following new paragraphs: 

13 ‘‘(4) EPHEMERAL GULLY MODIFICATIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of pro15 ducer on a farm with an existing conservation 

16 plan on the date of the enactment of this para17 graph, if a compliance review identifies an 

18 ephemeral gully that requires treatment and 

19 was not included in the plan for such farm, 

20 such plan shall be modified to include adequate 

21 ephemeral gully control and stabilization. 

22 ‘‘(B) REVISION.—In the case of a plan re23 vised under subparagraph (A), the producer on 

24 the farm shall implement such plan not later 


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1 than 1 year after the date of the revision of 

2 such plan. 

3 ‘‘(C) PROHIBITION.—A producer may not 

4 allow an ephemeral gully to advance to the 

5 point of becoming a classic gully in an attempt 

6 to avoid treatment. 

7 ‘‘(5) YIELD TRANSFER.—The Corporation shall 

8 not allow a producer’s actual production records 

9 from one parcel of land to be used to establish ac10 tual production history on a separate parcel of 

11 land.’’. 

Æ 


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