I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8910 

To require a study of the barriers to conservation practice adoption on 

leased agricultural land, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 9, 2020 

Ms. BROWNLEY of California introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To require a study of the barriers to conservation practice 

adoption on leased agricultural land, 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 ‘‘Conservation for Agri5 cultural Leased Land Act’’ or the ‘‘CALL Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) According to a 2016 study by the Economic 

9 Research Service of the Department of Agriculture, 

10 39 percent of agricultural land in the United States 


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1 is leased, including the majority (53 percent) of 

2 cropland. 

3 (2) The participation of landowners and tenants 

4 in Federal, State, and local conservation programs, 

5 and the adoption of conservation practices on land 

6 that they own or manage, can be limited by a wide 

7 range of factors that are not fully understood. 

8 (3) Much of the limited information that is 

9 known comes from the Tenure, Ownership, and 

10 Transition of Agricultural Land (TOTAL) Survey 

11 conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics 

12 Service, in collaboration with the Economic Research 

13 Service; regularly recurring data collection through 

14 the TOTAL Survey and other Department of Agri15 culture reports is vital to understanding land tenure 

16 trends, challenges, and opportunities. 

17 (4) Some of the potential barriers to such par18 ticipation and adoption include the structure or term 

19 of the lease or rental agreement, the level of inde20 pendence given to the operator, the awareness of the 

21 landowner of both conservation practice and pro22 gram opportunities and the costs and benefits asso23 ciated with those opportunities, and other policy or 

24 market factors. 


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1 (5) The solutions to these issues are unlikely to 

2 be ‘‘one size fits all’’ and must be better understood. 

3 SEC. 3. STUDY. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 

5 study of the participation in conservation programs of, 

6 and the adoption of conservation practices on, leased agri7 cultural land. 

8 (b) COLLABORATION.—The study under this section 

9 shall be carried out in collaboration with the Economic 

10 Research Service. 

11 (c) CONTENTS.—The study carried out under this 

12 section shall include— 

13 (1) a review of relevant existing research lit14 erature, including— 

15 (A) the Tenure, Ownership, and Transition 

16 of Agricultural Land (TOTAL) Survey con17 ducted by the National Agricultural Statistics 

18 Service, in collaboration with the Economic Re19 search Service; and 

20 (B) the report titled ‘‘Understanding and 

21 Activating Non-Operating Landlords’’, pub22 lished by the American Farmland Trust in Sep23 tember, 2020; 


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1 (2) identification and quantification of the var2 ious types and structures of current agricultural 

3 land leasing relationships; 

4 (3) research on the history, and estimation of 

5 future trends, of agricultural land ownership; 

6 (4) examination of what leasing models have 

7 been effective in encouraging the adoption of con8 servation practices; 

9 (5) consideration of regional variations; 

10 (6) examination of existing Federal incentives 

11 for adopting conservation practices, and the degree 

12 to which such incentives are currently utilized with 

13 respect to leased agricultural lands; 

14 (7) research on State and local incentive pro15 grams that are encouraging conservation practice 

16 adoption on leased agricultural lands; and 

17 (8) research on the benefits of transitioning 

18 from land leasing to land ownership on conservation 

19 practice adoption and Federal conservation program 

20 participation. 

21 (d) CONSIDERATION.—The study under this section 

22 shall be carried out with particular consideration of farm23 ers and ranchers who are people of color, including Black 

24 and indigenous farmers and ranchers, and beginning 

25 farmers and ranchers. 


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1 (e) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 2021, the 

2 Secretary shall submit to Congress a report containing— 

3 (1) the results of the study conducted under 

4 this section; and 

5 (2) recommendations, based on such study, for 

6 addressing the barriers unique to various agricul7 tural land leasing relationships to adopting conserva8 tion practices on leased agricultural land, includ9 ing— 

10 (A) recommendations that can be imple11 mented under existing statutory authorities; 

12 (B) recommendations that would require 

13 congressional authorization in order to be im14 plemented; and 

15 (C) recommendations for outreach. 

16 (f) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary may enter 

17 into an agreement with a non-Federal entity (such as a 

18 nonprofit entity or university), selected through an appli19 cation process, to carry out this section. 

20 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

21 (1) LEASED AGRICULTURAL LAND.—The term 

22 ‘‘leased agricultural land’’ means agricultural land 

23 that is operated, under a lease or other rental agree24 ment, by a farmer or rancher who does not own the 

25 land. 


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1 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Na3 tional Agricultural Statistics Service. 

Æ 


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