II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4189 

To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize the Secretary of 

Agriculture to improve agricultural productivity, profitability, resilience, 

and ecological outcomes through modernized data infrastructure and 

analysis, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 11 (legislative day, MAY 10), 2022 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. THUNE) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize the 

Secretary of Agriculture to improve agricultural productivity, profitability, resilience, and ecological outcomes 

through modernized data infrastructure and analysis, 

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 ‘‘Agriculture Innovation 

5 Act of 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DATA ON CONSERVATION AND OTHER PRODUCTION 

2 PRACTICES. 

3 Subtitle E of title XII of the Food Security Act of 

4 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841 et seq.) is amended by adding at 

5 the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 1248. DATA ON CONSERVATION AND OTHER PRODUC7 TION PRACTICES. 

8 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to im9 prove conservation outcomes, increase agricultural produc10 tivity and resilience, and accelerate the development of 

11 carbon and other ecosystem service markets by collecting, 

12 analyzing, and providing data— 

13 ‘‘(1) to better understand how covered con14 servation practices and suites of covered conserva15 tion practices and other production practices impact 

16 farm, ranch, and other working land productivity 

17 and profitability (such as crop yields, soil health, 

18 and other risk-reducing factors); 

19 ‘‘(2) to support the measurement and quan20 tification of ecosystem services provided by working 

21 land, such as carbon sequestration, water filtration, 

22 and habitat, that result from covered conservation 

23 practices and other production practices; and 

24 ‘‘(3) to improve the implementation of Depart25 ment programs to optimize productivity, profit26 ability, and ecological benefits. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 ‘‘(1) COVERED CONSERVATION PRACTICE.—The 

3 term ‘covered conservation practice’ means a specific 

4 conservation practice or enhancement that is de5 signed to protect soil health, farm and ranch produc6 tivity, or both (including the protection of wildlife 

7 habitat) while maintaining or enhancing crop yields 

8 in an economically sustainable manner (including 

9 such a conservation practice or enhancement that is 

10 supported by the Department or used independently 

11 by a producer), as determined by the Secretary. 

12 ‘‘(2) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘Department’ 

13 means the Department of Agriculture. 

14 ‘‘(3) OTHER PRODUCTION PRACTICE.—The 

15 term ‘other production practice’ means a practice 

16 used to produce a crop or livestock, including pest 

17 control, nutrient management, manure management, 

18 water and irrigation management, seed, feed and nu19 trition, and crop residue management. 

20 ‘‘(c) DATA COLLECTION, REVIEW, ANALYSIS, AND

21 TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary, acting through 

22 the 1 or more applicable Under Secretaries that head mis23 sion areas relating to farm and ranch productivity and 

24 conservation, in coordination with the Chief Data Officer 

25 of the Department, the Chief Economist, and the Under 


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1 Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics, shall 

2 carry out the following activities: 

3 ‘‘(1) Identify in the data inventory maintained 

4 by the Secretary under section 3511 of title 44, 

5 United States Code, data relating to the impacts of 

6 covered conservation practices and other production 

7 practices on enhancing crop yields, soil health, and 

8 ecosystem services, reducing risk, and improving 

9 farm, ranch, and other working land profitability 

10 generated or collected by the Department, including 

11 the Farm Service Agency, the Risk Management 

12 Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, 

13 the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Eco14 nomic Research Service, the Forest Service, and any 

15 other relevant agency, as determined by the Sec16 retary. 

17 ‘‘(2) Collect or acquire, using other authorities 

18 of the Secretary, and using technology and a mod19 ernized survey system, to the greatest extent prac20 ticable, or another appropriate method, any addi21 tional producer data, baseline data, or other data re22 lating to the impacts of covered conservation prac23 tices and other production practices on enhancing 

24 crop yields, soil health, and ecosystem services, re25 ducing risk, and improving farm, ranch, and other 


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1 working land profitability necessary to achieve the 

2 purpose described in subsection (a), ensuring that 

3 data is collected from all types and sizes of oper4 ations. 

5 ‘‘(3) Ensure that producer data identified or 

6 collected under paragraph (1) or (2) are collected in 

7 a compatible format that is machine-readable (as de8 fined in section 3502 of title 44, United States 

9 Code) at the field- and farm-level and in a manner 

10 that places the lowest practicable burden on pro11 ducers and improves the interoperability of the data 

12 collected by the Department for the purposes of this 

13 section and optimizes the interoperability, to the ex14 tent practicable, with data relating to conservation 

15 practices generated by other organizations and other 

16 activities of the Department. 

17 ‘‘(4) Establish procedures and incentives for 

18 producers to voluntarily elect to be contacted to par19 ticipate in or submit additional research and to pro20 vide supplemental data that may be useful in statis21 tical activities (as defined in section 311 of title 5, 

22 United States Code) and activities to build evidence 

23 (as defined in that section) of the impacts of covered 

24 conservation practices on— 


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1 ‘‘(A) enhancing crop yields, soil health, 

2 and ecosystem services; 

3 ‘‘(B) reducing risk; and 

4 ‘‘(C) improving farm, ranch, and other 

5 working land profitability. 

6 ‘‘(5) Integrate, collate, and link, to the greatest 

7 extent practicable, data identified or collected under 

8 this subsection with other government or nongovern9 mental data sources that include crop yields, soil 

10 health, covered conservation practices, and other 

11 production practices. 

12 ‘‘(6) Establish a conservation and farm produc13 tivity secure data center designed to carry out the 

14 purposes of this section that ensures the security, 

15 privacy, and integrity of data. 

16 ‘‘(7) Make available data through the secure 

17 data center established under paragraph (6) to aca18 demic institutions and researchers that meet the 

19 user permission requirements described in subsection 

20 (d)(2)(A) for the provision of technical assistance. 

21 ‘‘(8) Analyze, consistent with the scientific in22 tegrity policy of the Department, the data identified 

23 or collected under this subsection to consider the im24 pacts of covered conservation practices and other 

25 production practices on enhancing crop yields, soil 


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1 health, and ecosystem services and improving farm, 

2 ranch, and other working land profitability. 

3 ‘‘(9) Use the results of the analyses under para4 graph (8) to improve the implementation of Depart5 ment programs to increase productivity, profitability, 

6 and ecological benefits of farm, ranch, and other 

7 working land, including relating to issues identified 

8 in the evidence-building plan of the Department re9 quired under section 312 of title 5, United States 

10 Code. 

11 ‘‘(10) Promptly make available on the public12 facing component of the secure data center estab13 lished under paragraph (6) the research, analysis, 

14 evaluation products, and other information gen15 erated in carrying out this section (including open 

16 Government data assets (as defined in section 3502 

17 of title 44, United States Code), to the extent per18 missible by law)— 

19 ‘‘(A) that demonstrates the impacts of cov20 ered conservation practices and other produc21 tion practices on enhancing crop yields, soil 

22 health, and ecosystem services, reducing risk, 

23 and improving farm, ranch, and other working 

24 land profitability; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) in a manner that is easily accessed by 

2 producers, researchers, and other stakeholders. 

3 ‘‘(d) SECURE AGRICULTURAL DATA CENTER ESTAB4 LISHMENT.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may enter 

6 into 1 or more agreements with 1 or more academic 

7 institutions, organizations, government agencies, or 

8 other experts determined necessary by the Secretary 

9 to provide technical assistance, expertise, and tech10 nology infrastructure, as needed, to develop the se11 cure data center under subsection (c)(6). 

12 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT TO MODERNIZE DATA SE13 CURITY, STORAGE, AND ACCESS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In establishing the se15 cure data center described in paragraph (1), the 

16 Secretary shall use industry-standard data se17 curity protocols and user permissions to protect 

18 the security and confidentiality of proprietary 

19 producer data while automating and standard20 izing data collection, storage, and sharing, to 

21 the greatest extent practicable, for the purpose 

22 of carrying out this section and encouraging ag23 riculture innovation. 

24 ‘‘(B) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—In 

25 carrying out subparagraph (A), the Secretary 


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1 shall establish procedures for the operation and 

2 use of the secure data center that includes— 

3 ‘‘(i) prohibiting the sale of any indi4 vidual or identifiable producer data; 

5 ‘‘(ii) requiring any published research 

6 to release only aggregated data, consistent 

7 with best practices for disclosure avoidance 

8 and reducing the risk of re-identification; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(iii) periodically consulting with ex11 perts and stakeholders to consider nec12 essary modifications to security protocols 

13 or confidentiality protections for identifi14 able data accessed or maintained by the se15 cure data center and improvements to ac16 cess for approved users. 

17 ‘‘(e) PRODUCER TOOLS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 years 

19 after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec20 retary shall provide technical assistance, including 

21 through internet-based tools, based on the analysis 

22 conducted in carrying out this section and other 

23 sources of relevant data, to assist producers in im24 proving sustainable production practices that in25 crease yields and enhance environmental outcomes. 


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1 ‘‘(2) INTERNET-BASED TOOLS.—Internet-based 

2 tools described in paragraph (1) shall provide to pro3 ducers, to the greatest extent practicable— 

4 ‘‘(A) confidential data specific to each 

5 farm or ranch of the producer; and 

6 ‘‘(B) general data relating to the impacts 

7 of covered conservation practices on enhancing 

8 crop yields, soil health, and otherwise reducing 

9 risk and improving farm and ranch profit10 ability. 

11 ‘‘(f) EFFECT ON PRIVACY PROTECTION LAWS.— 

12 Nothing in this section affects the applicability to this sec13 tion of— 

14 ‘‘(1) section 1770; 

15 ‘‘(2) section 1619 of the Food, Conservation, 

16 and Energy Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 8791); 

17 ‘‘(3) section 502(c) of the Federal Crop Insur18 ance Act (7 U.S.C. 1502(c)); 

19 ‘‘(4) section 552a of title 5, United States 

20 Code; or 

21 ‘‘(5) any other applicable privacy law that pro22 tects personally identifiable information of pro23 ducers. 

24 ‘‘(g) REPORTING.—Not later than 1 year after the 

25 date of enactment of this section, and each year thereVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:16 May 12, 2022 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4189.IS S4189

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1 after, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Ag2 riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and the 

3 Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives 

4 a report that includes— 

5 ‘‘(1) a summary of the analysis conducted 

6 under this section; 

7 ‘‘(2) the number and regions of producers that 

8 voluntarily submitted information under subsection 

9 (c)(4); 

10 ‘‘(3) a description of any additional or new ac11 tivities planned to be conducted under this section in 

12 the next fiscal year, including— 

13 ‘‘(A) research relating to any additional 

14 conservation practices; 

15 ‘‘(B) any new types of data to be collected; 

16 ‘‘(C) any improved or streamlined data col17 lection efforts associated with this section; and 

18 ‘‘(D) any new research projects; and 

19 ‘‘(4) in the case of the first 2 reports submitted 

20 under this subsection, a description of the current 

21 status of the implementation of activities under sub22 section (c). 

23 ‘‘(h) FUNDING AND ADMINISTRATION.—The Sec24 retary shall use the existing funds and authorities of the 

25 Department to carry out this section. 


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1 ‘‘(i) EFFECT.—Nothing in this section authorizes the 

2 Secretary to compel a producer— 

3 ‘‘(1) to provide data to the Department; or 

4 ‘‘(2) to receive technical assistance.’’. 

Æ 


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