I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5764 

To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to increase payments for droughtresilient or water-saving practices and to provide additional payments 

for perennial production systems, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023 

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ (for herself, Mr. VALADAO, and Ms. PINGREE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to increase payments for drought-resilient or water-saving practices and 

to provide additional payments for perennial production 

systems, 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 ‘‘Support Water-Effi5 cient Strategies and Technologies Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR DROUGHT-RESILIENT AND WATER2 SAVING PRACTICES. 

3 (a) INCREASED PAYMENTS FOR DROUGHT-RESIL4 IENT OR WATER-SAVING PRACTICES.—Section 1240B(d) 

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

6 2(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(8) INCREASED PAYMENTS FOR DROUGHT-RE8 SILIENT OR WATER-SAVING PRACTICES.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para10 graph (2), in the case of a practice described in 

11 subparagraph (B), the Secretary may increase 

12 the amount that would otherwise be provided 

13 for a practice under this subsection to not more 

14 than 85 percent of the costs associated with 

15 planning, design, materials, equipment, installa16 tion, labor, management, maintenance, or train17 ing. 

18 ‘‘(B) PRACTICES.—The practices eligible 

19 for increased payment amounts under subpara20 graph (A) are the following: 

21 ‘‘(i) Drought-resilient practices that 

22 have the capacity to develop and produce 

23 on water-deficient environments on eligible 

24 lands, as determined by the Secretary. 

25 ‘‘(ii) Water-conserving practices 

26 that— 


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1 ‘‘(I) conserve surface water or 

2 groundwater that result in a reduction 

3 of water use in the agricultural oper4 ation of an eligible land; or 

5 ‘‘(II) offer support to reduce run6 off and increase the absorption of rain 

7 on eligible land.’’. 

8 SEC. 3. SUPPLEMENTAL PAYMENTS FOR RESOURCE-CON9 SERVING MANAGEMENT. 

10 (a) CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PAYMENTS.—Sec11 tion 1240L(c) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 

12 U.S.C. 3839aa–24(c)) is amended— 

13 (1) in paragraph (1)— 

14 (A) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘on 

15 1 or more land uses covered by the contract’’ 

16 after ‘‘activities’’; and 

17 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘im18 proving, maintaining, and managing’’ and in19 serting ‘‘maintaining, actively managing, and 

20 improving’’; and 

21 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

22 (A) by amending subparagraph (B) to read 

23 as follows: 

24 ‘‘(B) Income forgone by the producer, in25 cluding amounts that reflect— 


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1 ‘‘(i) increased economic risk; and 

2 ‘‘(ii) loss in revenue due to— 

3 ‘‘(I) production changes; 

4 ‘‘(II) anticipated reductions in 

5 yield; 

6 ‘‘(III) transitions to a resource7 conserving cropping or grazing, or pe8 rennial production systems; or 

9 ‘‘(IV) acreage converted to con10 serving uses.’’; and 

11 (B) in subparagraph (E), by inserting ‘‘, 

12 actively managed, and, where applicable, im13 proved’’ after ‘‘maintained’’. 

14 (b) SUPPLEMENTAL PAYMENTS FOR RESOURCE15 CONSERVING CROP ROTATIONS AND ADVANCED GRAZING

16 MANAGEMENT.—Section 1240L(d) of the Food Security 

17 Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–24(d)) is amended— 

18 (1) in the subsection heading, by inserting ‘‘, 

19 PERENNIAL PRODUCTION SYSTEMS,’’ after ‘‘ROTA20 TIONS’’; 

21 (2) in paragraph (1)— 

22 (A) by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 

23 subparagraph (D); and 

24 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 

25 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(C) PERENNIAL PRODUCTION SYSTEM.— 

2 The term ‘perennial production system’ 

3 means— 

4 ‘‘(i) the use of cropland for agro5 forestry, including alley cropping, 

6 silvopasture, and related perennial produc7 tion systems, as determined by the Sec8 retary; 

9 ‘‘(ii) the use of woodland acres for 

10 agroforestry, including forest farming, 

11 multi-story cropping, and related perennial 

12 production systems, as determined by the 

13 Secretary; and 

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

15 forages or perennial grain crops.’’; 

16 (3) in paragraph (2)— 

17 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘or’’ 

18 at the end; 

19 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 

20 subparagraph (C); and 

21 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 

22 the following: 

23 ‘‘(B) perennial production systems; or’’; 

24 and 


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1 (4) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘, perennial 

2 production systems,’’ after ‘‘rotations’’. 

3 (c) PAYMENT LIMITATIONS.—Section 1240L(f) of 

4 the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–24(f)) 

5 is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(f) PAYMENT LIMITATIONS.—A person or legal enti7 ty (including a joint venture and general partnership) may 

8 not receive, directly or indirectly, payments under the pro9 gram that, in the aggregate, exceed $200,000 under all 

10 contracts entered into during any consecutive 5-year pe11 riod, excluding funding arrangements with Indian tribes, 

12 regardless of the number of contracts entered into under 

13 the program by the person or legal entity.’’. 

14 (d) SOIL HEALTH.—Section 1240L(k) of the Food 

15 Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–24(k)) is amend16 ed to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘(k) SOIL HEALTH.—To the maximum extent fea18 sible, the Secretary shall manage the program to enhance 

19 soil health, including by— 

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

21 of contracts to improve soil health and sequester 

22 carbon in the soil; and 

23 ‘‘(2) offering payments for soil testing to pro24 vide participants and the Secretary with information 


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1 on the soil health and carbon sequestration impacts 

2 of conservation activities.’’. 

Æ 


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