Balancing Food, Farm, and the Environment Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-923
Sponsor: Sen. Udall, Tom [D-NM]
Introduced: 2013-05-09 in the Senate
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Agricultural conservation and pollution
Agricultural insurance
Agricultural practices and innovations
Agricultural prices, subsidies, credit
Air quality
Birds
Chesapeake Bay
Climate change and greenhouse gases
Disaster relief and insurance
Environmental technology
Farmland
Forests, forestry, trees
Government lending and loan guarantees
Government studies and investigations
Great Lakes
Land use and conservation
Minority and disadvantaged businesses
Public contracts and procurement
Soil pollution
Solid waste and recycling
Water quality
Water use and supply
Watersheds
Wetlands
Wildlife conservation and habitat protection

Summary:
action_date: 2013-05-09
text: 
Balancing Food, Farm, and the Environment Act of 2013 - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to make a producer violating certain conservation requirements under the highly erodible land or wetland programs ineligible for federal crop insurance premiums. 
 
Requires producers under the highly erodible land program and the wetland conservation program to comply with specified conservation requirements.
 
Extends and revises: (1) the conservation reserve program, (2) the conservation stewardship program, and (3) the environmental quality incentives program.
 
Establishes: (1) a conservation reserve easement program, and (2) a conservation innovation grant program.
 
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to use Commodity Credit Corporation funds and facilities to carry out the following programs through FY2018: (1) the conservation reserve program, (2) the conservation security program, (3) the conservation stewardship program, (4) the environmental quality incentives program, (5) the conservation innovation grant program, (6) the agricultural conservation easement program, and (7) the conservation loan and loan guarantee program.
 
Authorizes a conservation loan and loan guarantee program.
 
Establishes an agricultural conservation easement program which shall combine the purposes and functions of the wetlands reserve program, the grassland reserve program, and the farmland protection program.
 
Provides: (1) funding for the purchase by eligible entities of agricultural land easements and other interests in eligible land, and (2) assistance to owners of eligible land to restore and protect wetland through easements and related wetland easement plans. 
 
Authorizes the Secretary to enter into one or more agreements with a state, nongovernmental organization, or Indian tribe to carry out a special wetlands reserve enhancement program which shall include a reservation of haying and grazing component.
 
Establishes a regional conservation partnership program which shall combine the purposes and functions of the agricultural water enhancement program, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed program, the cooperative conservation partnership initiative, and the Great Lakes basin program for soil erosion and sediment control.
 
Repeals: (1) the emergency forestry conservation reserve program, (2) the wetlands reserve program, (3) the farmland protection program and farm viability program, (4) the grassland reserve program, (5) the environmental easement program, (6) the program of conservation innovation grants and payments, (7) the agricultural water enhancement program, (8) the wildlife habitat incentive program, (9) the Great Lakes Basin program, (10) the cooperative conservation partnership initiative, and (11) the desert terminal lakes program.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-05-09
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2013-05-09
text: Introduced in Senate