Title: Sustainable Farmland for the Future Act
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Sustainable Farmland for the Future Act
This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to modify the conservation compliance provisions that apply to farmers who receive certain Department of Agriculture (USDA) benefits and have land that is highly erodible or a wetland.
The bill modifies the compliance provisions to:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3809 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3809

    To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to improve conservation 
                  compliance, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 21, 2017

Mr. Blumenauer introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to improve conservation 
                  compliance, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Sustainable Farmland for the Future 
Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    Section 1201(a) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 
3801(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``highly 
                erodible'' and inserting ``covered''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``the highly 
                erodible'' and inserting ``covered'';
            (2) in paragraph (4)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``; and'' and 
                inserting a semicolon;
                    (B) by amending subparagraph (B) to read as 
                follows:
                    ``(B) are designed to, in a cost effective and 
                technically practicable manner--
                            ``(i) achieve a substantial improvement in 
                        water quality;
                            ``(ii) achieve a rate of soil erosion no 
                        greater than the soil loss tolerance level, as 
                        determined by the Natural Resources 
                        Conservation Service;
                            ``(iii) prevent ephemeral gully erosion; 
                        and
                            ``(iv) establish and maintain a minimum of 
                        50 feet of perennial vegetation between covered 
                        cropland and intermittent or perennial 
                        waterways; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) are based on the most recent and technically 
                accurate soil erosion prediction models to determine if 
                soil erosion by wind and water exceed the Soil Loss 
                Tolerance Level on covered cropland subject to subtitle 
                B.'';
            (3) in paragraph (6), by striking ``highly erodible'' and 
        inserting ``covered'';
            (4) by amending paragraph (7)(A)(ii) to read as follows:
                    ``(ii) before such action, such land was 
                wetland.'';
            (5) in paragraph (9), by striking ``Any highly erodible 
        land on which an agricultural commodity is produced after 
        December 23, 1985, and that is not exempt under section 1212, 
        shall be considered as part of the field in which the land was 
        included on December 23, 1985, unless the owner and Secretary 
        agree to modification of the boundaries of the field to carry 
        out this title.''; and
            (6) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(28) Covered cropland.--The term `covered cropland' means 
        cropland, as defined in section 718.2 of title 7, Code of 
        Federal Regulations, that is planted to a row crop.''.

SEC. 3. COVERED CROPLAND PROGRAM INELIGIBILITY.

    (a) In General.--Section 1211 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 
U.S.C. 3811) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                striking ``a field on which highly erodible land'' and 
                all that follows through ``shall be ineligible for'' 
                and inserting ``covered cropland shall be ineligible 
                for'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1)(A)--
                            (i) by inserting ``or income'' after ``any 
                        type of price''; and
                            (ii) by inserting ``, including a payment 
                        made under section 1116 or 1117 of the 
                        Agricultural Act of 2014'' before the semicolon 
                        at the end; and
                    (C) in paragraph (1)(D), by striking ``excessive 
                erosion of highly erodible land'' and inserting 
                ``substantial erosion or degradation of water 
                quality''; and
            (2) in the heading of subsection (b), by striking ``Highly 
        Erodible Land'' and inserting ``Compliance Determination''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Subtitle B of title XII of the Food 
Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3811 et seq.) is amended in the heading 
by striking ``Highly Erodible Land'' and inserting ``Covered 
Cropland''.

SEC. 4. EXEMPTIONS.

    Section 1212 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3812) is 
amended--
            (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
    ``(a) Eligibility Based on Compliance With Conservation Plan.--
            ``(1) In general.--If, as of January 1, 2023, or 2 years 
        after the Natural Resources Conservation Service has completed 
        a conservation plan for the farm, whichever is later, a person 
        is actively applying the approved conservation plan, such 
        person shall have until January 1, 2028, to comply with the 
        plan without being subject to program ineligibility.
            ``(2) Minimization of documentation.--In carrying out this 
        subsection, the Secretary, Natural Resources Conservation 
        Service, and local soil conservation districts shall minimize 
        the quantity of documentation a person must submit to comply 
        with this paragraph.
            ``(3) Expiration.--On the expiration of a contract entered 
        into under subchapter B of chapter 1 of subtitle D, the 
        provisions of this subtitle shall apply to the acreage that was 
        the subject of such contract.'';
            (2) by striking subsections (b), (c), and (d);
            (3) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), (g), and (h) as 
        subsections (b), (c), (d), and (e), respectively; and
            (4) in subsection (c), as so redesignated, by amending 
        paragraph (4)(A)(i) to read as follows:
                            ``(i) a person has failed to comply with 
                        section 1211, and has acted in good faith and 
                        without an intent to violate section 1211; 
                        or''.

SEC. 5. DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF CONSERVATION PLANS AND 
              CONSERVATION SYSTEMS.

    Section 1213 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3812a) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and 
                economically''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ``undue'' and 
                inserting ``serious'';
            (2) by striking subsection (b) and redesignating 
        subsections (c), (d), (e), and (f) as subsections (b), (c), 
        (d), and (e), respectively;
            (3) in subsection (c) (as redesignated by paragraph (2))--
                    (A) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) by striking ``If a person makes a 
                        certification under paragraph (1), the 
                        Secretary shall not be required to'' and 
                        inserting ``The Secretary shall annually''; and
                            (ii) by inserting ``on not less than 5 
                        percent of the covered cropland subject to this 
                        subtitle'' after ``being applied''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the last sentence 
                and inserting ``The Secretary may revise the person's 
                conservation plan if the Secretary determines the 
                conservation plan is not meeting the standards in 
                section 1201(a)(4).''; and
            (4) by amending subsection (d) (as redesignated by 
        paragraph (2)) to read as follows:
    ``(d) Technical Assistance.--The Secretary shall--
            ``(1) provide technical assistance to a person throughout 
        the development, revision, and application of the conservation 
        plan and any conservation system of the person; and
            ``(2) make available annually an amount equal to 0.02 
        percent of the funding otherwise provided for programs 
        specified in section 1211(a), not to exceed $350 million, to 
        provide technical assistance, conduct status reviews and other 
        tasks required to fully implement the provisions of this 
        subtitle.''.

SEC. 6. WETLAND PROGRAM INELIGIBILITY.

    Section 1221 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3821) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)(1), by inserting ``, including 
        payments made under section 1116 or 1117 of the Agricultural 
        Act of 2014'' before the period at the end; and
            (2) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) by amending paragraph (2)(B) to read as 
                follows:
                    ``(B) New conversions.--In the case of a wetland 
                that the Secretary determines was converted after the 
                date of enactment of the Agricultural Act of 2014, the 
                person shall be ineligible to receive crop insurance 
                premium subsidies in subsequent reinsurance years 
                unless the Secretary determines that an exemption 
                pursuant to section 1222 applies.'';
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking subparagraph (E); 
                and
                    (C) in paragraph (4), by inserting at the end the 
                following:
                    ``(D) Funding.--The Secretary shall make available 
                annually an amount equal to 0.01 percent of the funding 
                otherwise made available for programs specified in 
                1221(b), not to exceed $200 million, to provide 
                technical assistance, conduct status reviews and carry 
                out other tasks needed to fully implement the 
                provisions of this subtitle.
                    ``(E) Status reviews.--The Secretary shall annually 
                carry out a review of the status of compliance of the 
                person with the conservation plan under which the 
                conservation system is being applied on no less than 5 
                percent of the covered cropland subject to this 
                subtitle.''.

SEC. 7. DELINEATION OF WETLANDS; EXEMPTIONS.

    Section 1222 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3822) is 
amended in subsection (f)(2)--
            (1) by striking subparagraphs (D) and (E); and
            (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) and (G) as 
        subparagraphs (D) and (E), respectively.
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