Agricultural conservation began in the 1930s with a focus on soil and water issues associated with production and environmental concerns on the farm. By the 1980s, agricultural conservation policies broadened to include environmental issues beyond soil and water, especially environmental issues related to production (off the farm). Many of the current agricultural conservation programs were enacted as part of the 1985 farm bill ( P.L. 99-198 , Food Security Act of 1985), which also included for the first time a conservation title. These programs have been reauthorized, modified, and expanded, and several new programs have been created, particularly in subsequent omnibus farm bills. While the number of programs has increased and new techniques to address resource problems continue to emerge, the basic approach has remained unchanged—voluntary farmer participation encouraged by providing land rental payments, cost-sharing conservation practice implementation, technical assistance, education, and basic and applied research. The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 ( P.L. 110-246 ), the 2008 farm bill, reauthorized almost all existing conservation programs, modified several programs, and created various new ones. Funding authority for most of these programs expired at the end of FY2012, and was extended until the end of FY2013 by the American Taxpayer Relief Act ( P.L. 112-240 ). The 112 th Congress debated reauthorizing legislation in the House-reported ( H.R. 6083 ) and Senate-passed ( S. 3240 ) farm bills. This legislation did not pass before the end of the 112 th Congress, leaving the 113 th Congress to write a new farm bill. Since its first inclusion in the 1985 farm bill, the conservation title has been a significant and visible title in the farm bill. As the title has grown in both size and interest, so too have questions and concerns about program funding, policy objectives, individual program effectiveness, comparative geographic emphasis, and the structure of federal assistance. Congress has continued to debate and address these concerns with each omnibus farm bill. The 2008 farm bill was no exception. While almost all existing conservation programs were reauthorized, several programs were modified to address concerns. The 2008 farm bill also created new programs, expanding the range of USDA conservation activities. Currently, more than 20 agricultural conservation programs are administered by USDA, mostly by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Starting in 1985, each succeeding farm bill has expanded the range of natural resource problems to be addressed as well as the number of conservation programs and level of funding. In some cases, the programs are subsets of overarching programs that apply to a specific place or a specific resource, but with unique provisions and eligibility requirements. Though some similarities among these programs exist, each is administered with slight differences. For a list of most agricultural conservation programs, see CRS Report R40763, Agricultural Conservation: A Guide to Programs . Generally, farm bill conservation programs can be grouped into the following four categories based on similarities: working land programs, land retirement and easement programs, conservation compliance programs, and other programs and overarching provisions. Most of these programs are authorized to receive mandatory funding (i.e., they do not require an annual appropriation) and include authorities that expire with other farm bill programs at the end of FY2013. Other types of conservation programs such as watershed programs, emergency programs, and technical assistance are authorized in other non-farm bill legislation. Most of these programs have permanent authorities and receive appropriations annually through the appropriations process. These programs are not generally discussed in the context of a farm bill and are not covered in detail in this report. Working lands conservation programs are typically classified as programs that allow private land to remain in production, while implementing various conservation practices to address natural resource concerns specific to the area. The largest of these programs is the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), currently authorized at a total of $7.3 billion between FY2008 and FY2012. Others, such as the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA), and Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP), operate similarly to EQIP; however, they target specific resource concerns or geographic areas. The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) replaced the Conservation Security Program in the 2008 farm bill and is designed to encourage producers to address specific resource concerns in a comprehensive manner. CSP operates differently from the other working lands programs in that it employs a "pay-for-performance" approach. This approach pays producers based on their quantifiable level of environmental outcomes. Payments may vary to further incentivize higher levels of performance. Land retirement programs provide federal payments to private agricultural landowners for temporary changes in land use or management to achieve environmental benefits. Conversely, conservation easements impose a permanent land-use restriction that is voluntarily placed on the land in exchange for a government payment. The largest land retirement program is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which reimburses the landowner for removing land from production for up to 10 years at a time and is authorized to enroll up to 32 million acres. Other programs such as the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and the Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP) use a combination of long-term and permanent easements as well as restoration contracts to protect wetlands and grasslands from production. The Farmland Protection Program (FPP) also uses easements; unlike the aforementioned programs, however, it does not remove land from production, but rather restricts productive farmland from being developed for non-farm purposes. USDA also administers highly erodible lands conservation and wetland conservation compliance programs, referred to as Sodbuster, Swampbuster, and Sodsaver. These programs prohibit producers from receiving many farm program benefits when certain compliance requirements are not met. Under Sodbuster, farmers who cultivate highly erodible lands must have fully implemented an approved conservation plan or risk losing eligibility for various farm support programs on all the land the producer cultivates. Similarly, under Swampbuster, producers who convert a wetland, making production of an agricultural commodity possible, after November 28, 1990, are ineligible for program benefits. The 2008 farm bill created a new compliance provision known as Sodsaver. Under Sodsaver, producers that plant an insurable crop (over 5 acres) on native sod are ineligible for crop insurance and the noninsured crop disaster assistance (NAP) program for the first five years of planting. This provision requires states to sign up for participation. To date, no state governors have opted to participate in this program. USDA administers several other farm bill conservation programs, many of which were created in the 2008 farm bill. Some programs are geographically specific, such as the Chesapeake Bay program and the Great Lakes Basin program, which focus on select watershed regions. Other programs, such as the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI), use existing conservation program funds as leverage for partnership agreements with non-federal funding. Grant programs are also available, such as the Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentives program and the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG). Other farm bill provisions redirect funding to various priority areas, such as the regional equity provision and additional incentives for beginning, socially disadvantaged, and limited resource producers. For additional information and program descriptions for most conservation programs within the farm bill discussion, see the CRS Report R40763, Agricultural Conservation: A Guide to Programs . The majority of farm bill conservation programs are funded through USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) as mandatory spending. Mandatory spending can be thought of as multiyear appropriation in authorizing legislation (e.g., a farm bill). These authorizations do not require an annual appropriation. Mandatory conservation programs either receive a statutorily authorized level of funding (e.g., $1.75 billion available for a conservation program during a fiscal year) or an acreage allotment (e.g., enroll up to 32 million acres nationally). Mandatory funds from the authorizing law are assumed to be available unless they are expressly reduced to smaller amounts by a subsequent act of Congress, usually initiated in the appropriations process or by the authorizing committees. Historically, most conservation programs did not receive mandatory funding. The majority of conservation programs prior to the 1985 farm bill ( P.L. 99-198 ) had discretionary funding authority and were funded through the annual appropriations process. Since the 1985 farm bill, the number of programs receiving mandatory funding as well as the level of authorized funding has grown ( Figure 1 ). Most conservation program advocates view mandatory funding as a more desirable approach than the annual appropriations process. They believe that it is generally easier to protect authorized mandatory funding levels from reductions during the appropriations process than to secure appropriations each year. Congress has supported this by continuing to enact provisions that allow many conservation programs to receive mandatory funding. One of several concerns regarding conservation funding in the next farm bill centers on the possible reduction of mandatory program spending, without an increase in discretionary spending, thereby reducing the total level of conservation funding. During the 2008 farm bill debate conservation groups and producers found themselves competing with other agricultural interests for the necessary resources to expand or even continue many conservation programs. Upon passage of the 2008 farm bill, the conservation title was one of the few titles to have received an increase in mandatory funding levels, which was seen as a victory by many in the conservation and environmental communities. Conservation program funding was authorized to expand from approximately $4 billion total in FY2008 to $6.1 billion in FY2012. In an environment of pronounced domestic budget constraints, many mandatory conservation programs have faced reductions from the farm bill authorized levels, usually through the appropriations process. While other farm bill mandatory programs have experienced reductions in appropriations, the majority affect conservation programs. Conservation and environmental groups criticize these reductions, arguing that when appropriators reduce conservation funding they undercut many of the programs that generated political support for the farm bill's initial passage.