I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6182 
To amend the Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act of 1977 with 
respect to assessments of conservation programs, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 10, 2020 
Ms. FUDGE (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. 
DELGADO, and Ms. SCHRIER) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act 
of 1977 with respect to assessments of conservation pro-
grams, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farmer-Driven Con-
servation Outcomes Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE SOIL AND WATER RE-
SOURCES CONSERVATION ACT OF 1977. 
The Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act of 
1977 (16 U.S.C. 2001 et seq.) is amended by redesig-
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nating sections 8 through 10 as sections 10 though 12, 
respectively, and inserting after section 7 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 8. CONSERVATION PROGRAMS ASSESSMENT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In coordination with the ap-
praisal of soil, water, and related resources and with the 
national soil and water conservation program established 
under this Act, the Secretary may carry out a conservation 
effects assessment project to quantify the environmental 
and economic effects of conservation practices, develop the 
science base for managing the agricultural landscape for 
environmental quality and sustainable productive capacity, 
and improve the efficacy of conservation practices and pro-
grams by evaluating conservation effects. 
‘‘(b) SCOPE.—The project under this subsection may 
be carried out at national, regional, and watershed scales, 
and may include cropland, grazing lands, wetlands, for-
ests, and such other lands as the Secretary may determine 
appropriate. 
‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES.—The project under this subsection 
may include research, literature reviews and bibliog-
raphies, modeling, assessment, monitoring and data collec-
tion, outreach, extension education, and such other activi-
ties as the Secretary may determine appropriate. 
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‘‘SEC. 9. GOALS AND ASSESSMENT PROCESS FOR CON-
SERVATION PROGRAMS. 
‘‘(a) NATURAL RESOURCE
AND ENVIRONMENTAL 
OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In coordination with the 
appraisal of soil, water, and related resources, the 
soil and water conservation program, and the con-
servation effects assessment project established by 
this Act, the Secretary shall identify, and periodi-
cally revise, specific natural resource and environ-
mental objectives and anticipated conservation out-
comes and results, by resource concern, for the con-
servation programs established under subtitles D 
and H of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 
and the landscape conservation initiatives developed 
by the Secretary. 
‘‘(2) ASSESSMENTS.—To help measure out-
comes and results, the Secretary shall, to the max-
imum extent practicable, make assessments of 
changes in the status and conditions of natural re-
sources and the environment that result from the 
application of conservation activities supported di-
rectly by such conservation programs and initiatives. 
‘‘(3) MONITORING
AND
PROGRAM
EVALUA-
TION.—The Secretary shall establish a coordinated 
monitoring and evaluation process for programs and 
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initiatives to assess progress toward the identified 
objectives, to gather information to improve program 
and initiative implementation in accordance with de-
sired program and initiative outcomes and results, 
and to assess the need for modifications to program 
or initiative rules or statutes. 
‘‘(b) MONITORING AND PROGRAM EVALUATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall use not 
more than one percent of the total annual funding 
from the funds of the Commodity Credit Corpora-
tion made available for new annual enrollments for 
the conservation programs established under sub-
titles D and H of title XII of the Food Security Act 
of 1985 to establish a comprehensive monitoring and 
program evaluation process to assess progress in 
reaching natural resource and environmental objec-
tives identified in accordance with subsection (a) and 
the contribution of individual programs and initia-
tives, as well as the programs and initiatives collec-
tively, to that progress. 
‘‘(2) IMPLEMENTATION.—In implementing the 
monitoring and program evaluation process under 
paragraph (1), the Secretary may consider and in-
corporate resource concern inventories, quality cri-
teria, conservation practices and enhancements, and 
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such other information as the Secretary determines 
relevant for applying the monitoring and program 
evaluation process across each of the major land 
uses identified by the Secretary. 
‘‘(3) MONITORING
AND
EVALUATION
PROC-
ESS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than two 
years after the date of enactment of this sec-
tion, the Secretary shall issue a design for the 
comprehensive monitoring and evaluation proc-
ess, a schedule for implementing the process, 
and a plan for coordinating the process with the 
national soil and water conservation program 
and conservation effects assessment project es-
tablished under this Act. 
‘‘(B) METHODOLOGY.—The design for the 
comprehensive monitoring and evaluation proc-
ess issued under subparagraph (A) shall— 
‘‘(i) ensure that data made available 
to cooperators and researchers under this 
subsection is transformed into statistical 
aggregate at the county level, in a form 
that protects personally identifiable infor-
mation; and 
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‘‘(ii) take into account the cumulative 
nature of conservation over time, the inter-
actions and sequencing effects between 
conservation activities, the differing times 
for conservation effects to be realized, and 
other related measurement challenges. 
‘‘(C) PUBLIC
RESEARCH.—Notwithstand-
ing any other provision of law, in order to facili-
tate implementation of the monitoring and eval-
uation process, the Secretary shall make avail-
able conservation activity and program data to 
cooperators and researchers engaged in public 
research and evaluation activities to improve 
conservation outcomes under this subsection, 
provided that— 
‘‘(i) adequate assurances are provided 
to the Secretary that any resulting re-
search or information will be made publicly 
available and in a form that protects per-
sonally identifiable information; and 
‘‘(ii) the National Technical Com-
mittee finds that any such research is like-
ly to generate information that furthers 
the purpose of this section. 
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‘‘(4) COOPERATIVE
AGREEMENTS.—The Sec-
retary may implement the monitoring evaluation 
process in part through cooperative or contribution 
agreements with Federal, State, and local agencies, 
universities and colleges, nongovernmental organiza-
tions with requisite expertise, as determined by the 
Secretary in consultation with the National Tech-
nical Committee. 
‘‘(5) NATIONAL TECHNICAL COMMITTEE.— 
‘‘(A) COMPOSITION.—The monitoring and 
evaluation process shall be administered by the 
Natural Resources Conservation Service with 
assistance from a national technical committee 
appointed by the Secretary and composed of in-
dividuals with relevant technical and scientific 
expertise representing— 
‘‘(i) the Agricultural Research Service 
of the Department of Agriculture; 
‘‘(ii) the Economic Research Service 
of the Department of Agriculture; 
‘‘(iii) the Farm Service Agency of the 
Department of Agriculture; 
‘‘(iv) the United States Fish and 
Wildlife Service; 
‘‘(v) the Forest Service; 
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‘‘(vi) the National Institute for Food 
and Agriculture; 
‘‘(vii) the United States Geological 
Survey; 
‘‘(viii) the Environmental Protection 
Agency; 
‘‘(ix) State and tribal agencies; 
‘‘(x) land grant university natural re-
source research programs; 
‘‘(xi) nongovernmental organizations 
with expertise in the full array of conserva-
tion issues and measurement and evalua-
tion of conservation outcomes; 
‘‘(xii) farmers across a variety of geo-
graphic regions and production types; and 
‘‘(xiii) such other agencies, institu-
tions, or organizations as the Secretary 
may determine appropriate. 
‘‘(B) FACA EXEMPTION.—The national 
technical committee shall be exempt from the 
Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. 
App.). 
‘‘(C) 
TRANSPARENCY.—The 
Secretary 
shall ensure the proceedings and recommenda-
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tions of the national technical committee are 
available to the public. 
‘‘(6) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.—In carrying 
out this subsection, the Secretary shall ensure that 
any on-farm monitoring activities that may be in-
cluded as part of the monitoring and program eval-
uation process are voluntary on the part of the pro-
ducer, and may include appropriate compensation, 
as determined by the Secretary. 
‘‘(c) REPORTING.— 
‘‘(1) REPORT ON OBJECTIVES AND METHODS.— 
Beginning in the fiscal year that is 3 years after the 
date of enactment of this subsection, and periodi-
cally thereafter, as determined by the Secretary, the 
Secretary shall submit to Congress, and make pub-
licly available, a report that includes— 
‘‘(A) a description of conservation outcome 
objectives that are, to the maximum extent 
practicable, quantitative, measurable, and time- 
bound for each program established under sub-
title D or H of the Food Security Act of 1985 
and the landscape conservation initiatives devel-
oped by the Secretary; 
‘‘(B) a description of the approaches, tools, 
and methods used to measure or model the con-
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servation outcomes and results and to estimate 
the cost-effectiveness of each such program; and 
‘‘(C) guidance to the conservation project 
partners working to implement conservation 
programs within a landscape-level project that 
provides a description of the approaches, tools, 
and methods the partners might consider using 
to measure and model the conservation out-
comes and results of their projects. 
‘‘(2) REPORT ON OUTCOMES.—In conjunction 
with each of the reports to Congress pursuant to 
section 7, the Secretary shall submit to Congress, 
and make publicly available, a report that includes— 
‘‘(A) an assessment of progress made to-
wards achieving conservation program objec-
tives and anticipated outcomes and results for 
each conservation program established under 
subtitle D or H of title XII of the Food Secu-
rity Act of 1985, as well as for such programs 
collectively, and the landscape conservation ini-
tiatives developed by the Secretary; 
‘‘(B) an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness 
of each such conservation program and initia-
tive; and 
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