I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7076 

To promote innovative practices for soil health through USDA conservation 

programs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 25, 2024 

Mr. BEYER (for himself, Mr. LAWLER, and Ms. PINGREE) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To promote innovative practices for soil health through 

USDA conservation programs, 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 ‘‘Innovative Practices 

5 for Soil Health Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY INCENTIVES PROGRAM. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1240A of the Food Secu8 rity Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–1) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (6)(B)— 


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1 (A) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

2 end; 

3 (B) by redesignating clause (vi) as clause 

4 (vii); and 

5 (C) by inserting after clause (v) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(vi) greenhouse gas emissions reduc8 tion planning; and’’; 

9 (2) in paragraph (7), in the matter preceding 

10 subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘natural resource 

11 concern or problem’’ and inserting ‘‘resource con12 cern’’; 

13 (3) by redesignating paragraphs (9) and (10) 

14 as paragraphs (10) and (11), respectively; and 

15 (4) by inserting after paragraph (8) the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(9) RESOURCE CONCERN.—The term ‘resource 

18 concern’ means a natural resource condition of the 

19 soil, water, air, plant, animal, or energy resource 

20 base that impairs the sustainability or intended uses 

21 of the resource.’’. 

22 (b) ON-FARM CONSERVATION INNOVATION

23 TRIALS.—Section 1240H(c)(1)(B)(i) of the Food Security 

24 Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–8(c)(1)(B)(i)) is amend25 ed— 


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1 (1) in subclause (II), by inserting ‘‘on-farm nu2 trient recycling,’’ after ‘‘plans,’’; 

3 (2) in subclause (VI), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

4 end; and 

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

6 ‘‘(VII) perennial production sys7 tems, including agroforestry and pe8 rennial forages and grain crops; and’’. 

9 SEC. 3. CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM. 

10 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1240I of the Food Secu11 rity Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–21) is amended— 

12 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

13 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘en14 hancements,’’ after ‘‘practices,’’; and 

15 (B) in subparagraph (B)(v), by inserting 

16 ‘‘and climate change’’ before the period at the 

17 end; 

18 (2) in paragraph (3)(C), by inserting ‘‘main19 tained, actively’’ after ‘‘implemented,’’; 

20 (3) in paragraph (5), in the matter preceding 

21 subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘natural resource 

22 concern or problem’’ and inserting ‘‘resource con23 cern’’; 

24 (4) by redesignating paragraph (7) as para25 graph (8); and 


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1 (5) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(7) RESOURCE CONCERN.—The term ‘resource 

4 concern’ means a natural resource condition of the 

5 soil, water, air, plant, animal, or energy resource 

6 base that impairs the sustainability or intended uses 

7 of the resource.’’. 

8 (b) CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM.—Sec9 tion 1240J(a) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 

10 U.S.C. 3839aa–22(a)) is amended by striking paragraphs 

11 (1) and (2) and inserting the following: 

12 ‘‘(1) by maintaining, actively managing, and, 

13 where practicable, improving existing conservation 

14 activities; and 

15 ‘‘(2) by undertaking additional conservation ac16 tivities.’’. 

17 (c) STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTS.— 

18 (1) SUBMISSION OF CONTRACT OFFERS.—Sec19 tion 1240K(a)(2)(B) of the Food Security Act of 

20 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–23(a)(2)(B)) is amended 

21 by striking ‘‘improving, maintaining, and managing’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘maintaining, actively managing, and, 

23 where practicable, improving’’. 


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1 (2) EVALUATION OF CONTRACT OFFERS.—Sec2 tion 1240K(b) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 

3 U.S.C. 3839aa–23(b)) is amended— 

4 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking clause 

5 (iii) and inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(iii) other criteria consistent with an 

7 equal weighting of the factors described in 

8 clauses (i) and (ii), as determined by the 

9 Secretary, including criteria the Secretary 

10 determines are necessary to ensure that— 

11 ‘‘(I) the program effectively tar12 gets improvements to soil health, in13 creases in carbon sequestration, and 

14 reductions in greenhouse gas emis15 sions; and 

16 ‘‘(II) other national, State, and 

17 local priority resource concerns are ef18 fectively addressed.’’; and 

19 (B) by striking paragraph (3). 

20 (3) CONTRACT RENEWAL.—Section 1240K(e) 

21 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 

22 3839aa–23(e)) is amended to read as follows: 

23 ‘‘(e) CONTRACT RENEWAL.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide 

25 the producer an opportunity to renew an existing 


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1 contract in the first half of the fifth year of the con2 tract period if the producer— 

3 ‘‘(A) demonstrates compliance with the 

4 terms of the existing contract; 

5 ‘‘(B) agrees to adopt and continue to inte6 grate new or improved conservation activities 

7 across the entire agricultural operation, dem8 onstrating continued improvement during the 

9 additional 5-year period, as determined by the 

10 Secretary; and 

11 ‘‘(C) agrees, by the end of the contract pe12 riod, to meet the stewardship threshold of at 

13 least 2 additional priority resource concerns on 

14 the agricultural operation, if applicable. 

15 ‘‘(2) RANKING AND PAYMENTS.—In deter16 mining whether to accept an application for contract 

17 renewal under this subsection, and when calculating 

18 payments for those renewed contracts, the Secretary 

19 shall consider the full conservation benefits across 

20 the entire applicable agricultural operation, includ21 ing— 

22 ‘‘(A) the number of priority resource con23 cerns with respect to which the producer is ex24 pected to meet or exceed the stewardship 

25 threshold by the end of the contract period; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) the active management and mainte2 nance of ongoing conservation activities, includ3 ing— 

4 ‘‘(i) the conservation activities adopt5 ed during a prior contract period; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the new or improved conservation 

7 activities to be adopted if a contract is re8 newed.’’. 

9 (d) DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY.— 

10 (1) CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PAY11 MENTS.—Section 1240L(c) of the Food Security Act 

12 of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–24(c)) is amended— 

13 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

14 (i) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

15 ‘‘on 1 or more types of eligible land cov16 ered by the contract’’ after ‘‘activities’’; 

17 and 

18 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

19 ‘‘improving, maintaining, and managing’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘maintaining, actively man21 aging, and improving’’; and 

22 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

23 (i) by striking subparagraph (B) and 

24 inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(B) Income forgone by the producer, in2 cluding amounts that reflect— 

3 ‘‘(i) increased economic risk; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) loss in revenue due to— 

5 ‘‘(I) production changes; 

6 ‘‘(II) anticipated reductions in 

7 yield; 

8 ‘‘(III) transitioning to an or9 ganic, resource-conserving cropping or 

10 grazing, or perennial production sys11 tem; or 

12 ‘‘(IV) acreage converted to con13 servation uses.’’; and 

14 (ii) in subparagraph (E), by inserting 

15 ‘‘, actively managed, and, where applicable, 

16 improved’’ after ‘‘maintained’’. 

17 (2) SUPPLEMENTAL PAYMENTS.—Section 

18 1240L(d) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 

19 U.S.C. 3839aa–24(d)) is amended— 

20 (A) in the subsection heading, by inserting 

21 ‘‘, PERENNIAL PRODUCTION SYSTEMS,’’ after 

22 ‘‘ROTATIONS’’; 

23 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

24 (i) by redesignating subparagraph (C) 

25 as subparagraph (D); and 


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1 (ii) by inserting after subparagraph 

2 (B) the following: 

3 ‘‘(C) PERENNIAL PRODUCTION SYSTEM.— 

4 The term ‘perennial production system’ 

5 means— 

6 ‘‘(i) the use of cropland for agro7 forestry, including alley cropping, 

8 silvopasture, and related production prac9 tices, as determined by the Secretary; 

10 ‘‘(ii) the use of woodland for agro11 forestry, including forest farming, multi12 story cropping, and related production 

13 practices, as determined by the Secretary; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(iii) the use of cropland for perennial 

16 forages or perennial grain crops.’’; 

17 (C) in paragraph (2)— 

18 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

19 ‘‘or’’ at the end; 

20 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

21 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; 

22 and 

23 (iii) by adding at the end the fol24 lowing: 

25 ‘‘(C) a perennial production system.’’; and 


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1 (D) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘or ad2 vanced grazing management’’ and inserting ‘‘, 

3 advanced grazing management, or a perennial 

4 production system’’. 

5 (3) SOIL HEALTH.—Section 1240L(k) of the 

6 Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa– 

7 24(k)) is amended by striking the period at the end 

8 and inserting the following: ‘‘, including by— 

9 ‘‘(1) conducting outreach to encourage the use 

10 of contracts to improve soil health and sequester 

11 carbon in the soil; and 

12 ‘‘(2) offering payments for soil testing to pro13 vide producers and the Secretary with information 

14 on the soil health and carbon sequestration impacts 

15 of conservation activities.’’. 

16 SEC. 4. FUNDING AND ADMINISTRATION. 

17 Section 1242 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 

18 U.S.C. 3842) is amended— 

19 (1) in subsection (a)(2)— 

20 (A) by inserting ‘‘an individual,’’ before ‘‘a 

21 commercial entity’’; 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘State or local’’ and insert23 ing ‘‘State, local, or Tribal’’; and 

24 (C) by striking ‘‘nutrient management 

25 planning,’’ and inserting ‘‘soil health planning, 


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1 greenhouse gas emissions reduction planning, 

2 nutrient management planning, integrated pest 

3 management planning, agroforestry planning, 

4 organic transition planning,’’; 

5 (2) in subsection (e)— 

6 (A) in paragraph (3)(A)— 

7 (i) by inserting ‘‘individuals,’’ before 

8 ‘‘commercial entities,’’; and 

9 (ii) by striking ‘‘State or local’’ and 

10 inserting ‘‘State, local, or Tribal’’; and 

11 (B) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘or or12 ganic’’ after ‘‘sustainability’’; and 

13 (3) in subsection (i)— 

14 (A) in the subsection heading, by inserting 

15 ‘‘PERENNIAL AGRICULTURE SYSTEM,’’ after 

16 ‘‘ORGANIC,’’; and 

17 (B) in paragraph (2), by inserting ‘‘a pe18 rennial agriculture system,’’ after ‘‘production,’’ 

19 each place it appears. 

20 SEC. 5. NATIONAL AND REGIONAL AGROFORESTRY CEN21 TERS. 

22 Section 1243 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, 

23 and Trade Act of 1990 (16 U.S.C. 1642 note; Public Law 

24 101–624) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking the section heading and insert2 ing ‘‘NATIONAL AND REGIONAL AGRO3 FORESTRY CENTERS’’; 

4 (2) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), and 

5 (d) as subsections (c), (d), and (e), respectively; 

6 (3) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the 

7 following: 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF AGROFORESTRY.—In this sec9 tion, the term ‘agroforestry’ means a management system 

10 that intentionally integrates trees and shrubs into crop 

11 and animal farming systems to build more profitable and 

12 weather-resilient farms, ranches, and communities, ad13 dress natural resource concerns and conservation needs, 

14 and establish productive and sustainable land use prac15 tices, including— 

16 ‘‘(1) riparian forest buffers; 

17 ‘‘(2) alley cropping; 

18 ‘‘(3) silvopasture; 

19 ‘‘(4) forest farming and multistory cropping; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(5) windbreaks, shelterbelts, hedgerows, field 

22 borders, and living snow fences. 

23 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL AND REGIONAL AGROFORESTRY

24 CENTERS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agri2 culture (referred to in this section as the ‘Sec3 retary’)— 

4 ‘‘(A) shall establish at the Forestry 

5 Sciences Laboratory of the Forest Service, in 

6 Lincoln, Nebraska, a National Agroforestry Re7 search, Development, and Demonstration Cen8 ter; and 

9 ‘‘(B) acting through the Chief of the For10 est Service and in cooperation with the Natural 

11 Resources Conservation Service, shall establish 

12 not fewer than 3 additional regional agro13 forestry centers at other locations, as deter14 mined by the Secretary. 

15 ‘‘(2) NATIONAL AND REGIONAL DIRECTORS.— 

16 The Secretary, acting through the Chief of the For17 est Service, in coordination with the Natural Re18 sources Conservation Service, shall appoint a Na19 tional Director and Regional Directors to manage 

20 and coordinate the program established under sub21 section (c).’’; 

22 (4) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated)— 

23 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph 

24 (1)— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘Center’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘Centers established under subparagraphs 

3 (A) and (B) of subsection (b)(1) (referred 

4 to in this section as the ‘Centers’)’’; and 

5 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and organizations’’ 

6 after ‘‘nonprofit foundations’’; 

7 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

8 (i) by striking ‘‘on semiarid lands 

9 that’’ and inserting ‘‘that build soil health 

10 and’’; and 

11 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, including agro12 forestry systems on semiarid land and 

13 other fragile agroecosystems where woody 

14 perennial plant communities can enhance 

15 carbon sequestration and reduce green16 house gas emissions’’ before the semicolon; 

17 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘forestry 

18 products for commercial sale from semiarid 

19 land’’ and inserting ‘‘agroforestry products for 

20 commercial sale’’; 

21 (D) in paragraph (4)— 

22 (i) by striking ‘‘in semiarid regions’’; 

23 and 

24 (ii) by striking ‘‘the Great Plains re25 gion’’ and inserting ‘‘particular regions’’; 


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1 (E) in paragraph (5), by inserting ‘‘tech2 nical assistance and’’ before ‘‘technology’’; 

3 (F) by striking paragraph (6) and insert4 ing the following: 

5 ‘‘(6) develop improved silvopasture, alley crop6 ping, forest farming, multistory cropping, riparian 

7 buffer, windbreak and shelterbelt, and other peren8 nial production and conservation systems and tech9 nologies to improve soil health, carbon sequestration, 

10 drought preparedness, soil and water conservation, 

11 environmental quality, and biological diversity;’’; 

12 (G) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘on 

13 semiarid lands’’; 

14 (H) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘on 

15 semiarid lands worldwide’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘worldwide, including on semiarid land’’; and 

17 (I) in paragraph (9)— 

18 (i) by striking ‘‘on semiarid lands’’; 

19 and 

20 (ii) by inserting ‘‘and climate change’’ 

21 after ‘‘pollution’’; 

22 (5) in subsection (d) (as so redesignated)— 

23 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

24 by striking ‘‘Center’’ and inserting ‘‘Centers’’; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

2 the end; 

3 (C) in paragraph (2), by striking the pe4 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

5 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(3) facilitate agroforestry adoption by dissemi7 nating comprehensive information on Federal, State, 

8 local, and Tribal programs that provide support for 

9 agroforestry.’’; and 

10 (6) by amending subsection (e) (as so redesig11 nated) to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(e) GRANTS.—The Secretary may establish regional 

13 grant programs at each of the Centers to support agro14 forestry projects, including demonstration farms.’’. 

Æ 


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