Key differences with proposed House GOP farm bill
Senate Ag Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) today unveiled a farm bill proposal titled the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act and discussed it during a meeting with some reporters in her office. According to reports, she emphasized her intent to negotiate with key congressional figures, including ranking Senate Ag member Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), and House Ag Committee Chairman “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.) before scheduling a markup.
Link to statement and key summaries and detailed information of Senate proposal.
Key Points of the proposal:
The bill seeks to enhance the USDA’s ability to use updates of the Thrifty Food Plan for raising SNAP benefits and moves conservation programs from the Inflation Reduction Act into the farm bill, maintaining climate-focused spending requirements.
It does not alter rules for the Commodity Credit Corporation, which has been a point of contention due to its use in climate-smart programs.
Stabenow believes the bill has Senate support but acknowledges that the political alignment is not yet in place.
Contentious elements and opposition: The bill has met resistance, particularly from Republicans who favor a budget-neutral approach to the Thrifty Food Plan and more flexible conservation spending. House Republicans, led by Chairman Thompson, have proposed a farm bill with funding schemes and policies that Democrats find unacceptable, leading to a rejection of a bipartisan approach.
Themes and provisions of the Senate bill:
The proposal aims to support farmers, families, and rural communities, with specific increases in reference prices for certain crops and mandatory funding for rural development.
It includes provisions to strengthen SNAP, expand high-speed internet access, and address rural childcare and mental health needs, among other issues.
Stabenow’s commitment: Despite the challenges, Stabenow is prepared to advance the bill, highlighting her dedication to significant issues like SNAP benefits and conservation programs. She reportedly expressed readiness to push the bill to the next legislative steps, underlining the effort and dedication required to craft such comprehensive legislation.
Some key elements of Senate farm bill proposals
Commodity Policy
Definitions
- Changes the definition of “effective reference price” by updating the formula for the 2025 through 2029 crop years to incorporate recent high price years.
- Increases by 5% the statutory reference price for commodities such as seed cotton, rice, and peanuts that have not or are not expected to benefit from the existing escalator. (A summary of the bill says: “Provides certainty to farmers by making payments under the PLC and ARC programs more likely to trigger and improves emergency disaster assistance. Under the bill, all major covered commodities will see at least a 5% increase in reference prices during the 2024 Farm Bill, with many seeing 10-15% increases.”
Base Acres
- Provides for a limited opportunity for underserved producers that own or operate a farm to establish new base acres or add base acres if recent plantings exceed the existing base acres.
Payment Yields
- Establishes the parameters for farms that lack a payment yield and for which new base acres are established.
Payment Acres
- Carries forward current law on payment acres for the 2025 through 2029 crop years.
- Restricts commodity program payments from being made on land owned by an individual or legal entity for which the average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) exceeds $700,000 to discourage further investor purchases, which would restrict, for the first time, wealthy investors and absentee landlords from benefitting from farm safety net programs intended to support the active farmers that are taking the risk and producing the crops.
Producer Election
- Maintains the annual choice for producers to choose between Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) on a crop-by-crop basis. Provides clarity that the farm program election for producers will continue for those who do not change their farm program election.
Price Loss Coverage
- Establishes that for the 2025 through 2029 crop years, PLC payments will be based on the difference between the newly improved effective reference price and the effective price for each covered commodity.
Establishes a payment band on PLC based on 20% of the effective reference price, similar to the payment band on ARC based on 10% of the revenue guarantee.
Agriculture Risk Coverage
- Increases the ARC guarantee to 88% of the benchmark revenue for the 2025 through 2029 crop years.
Marketing Loans
Loan Rates for Nonrecourse Marketing Assistance Loans
- Establishes a cost-of-production escalator on marketing assistance loans based on a comparison of the estimated cost of production from USDA’s Economic Research Service to the five-year average cost of production, which will provide a higher floor price and improved low-cost credit option that is targeted to producers actually incurring the expenses and producing a crop that year. If the estimated cost of production is higher than the five-year average in any of the 2025 through2029 crop years, the loan rates for that crop year will increase by the same percentage, up to 110% of the statutory loan rate.
Economic Adjustment Assistance for Textile Mills
- Increases the rate for payments made under the Economic Adjustment Assistance for Textile Mills program from 3 cents to 4 cents to encourage domestic use and support U.S. jobs.
Special Competitive Provisions for Extra-Long Staple Cotton
- Extends current law for special competitiveness provisions for extra-long staple cotton through July 31, 2030.
Sugar Policy
- Increases sugar loan rates and adjusts the relationship between raw sugar and refined sugar to reflect more recent production and transportation costs.
- Restricts the Secretary’s authority to increase the quota for imports of raw sugar prior to April 1. Assures that USDA can only adjust the tariff rate quota for raw sugar imports before April 1 in response to specific emergency situations to align with longstanding Congressional intent.
- Modernizes beet sugar marketing allotments and allocations.
- Requires the Secretary to reallocate any forecasted shortfall in the fulfillment of the minimum tariff rate quotas for raw cane sugar by March 1 in order to facilitate the orderly marketing and supply of sugar in the United States.
Program Payments
Commodity Program Payments on Land Owned by Foreign Persons.
- Restricts commodity program payments from being made on land owned by foreign persons.
Adjusted Gross Income Limitations
- Updates eligibility requirements to better target assistance to those who need it, by accommodating producers of specialty and other high-value crops, and by providing exceptions in the disaster programs when producers experience a severe decline in production: Closes a loophole that allows some farmers to avoid average AGI requirements.
- Reduces the average AGI limitation to $700,000 with an exception for specialty and high-value crop producers.
- Establishes an average AGI limitation of $1,500,000 for specialty and high-value crop producers.
- Provides a waiver from AGI requirements for economically distressed producers in the disaster programs.
- Maintains the existing AGI waiver for environmentally sensitive land of special significance for covered conservation programs.
- Removes AGI requirements from eligibility for NAP.
Farm Program Implementation Coordination
- Directs coordination with the Office of Customer Experience and the Office of Digital Service in implementation of streamlining provisions in Section 1614 of the Agricultural Act of 2014.
Legal Entities
- For purposes of payment limitations, provides that a legal entity includes a legal entity created under Tribal law.
Geographically Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers
- Increases to $20 million per fiscal year the total amount of direct reimbursement payments allowed to be made to geographically disadvantaged farmers and ranchers under Section 1621 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008.
Farm Program Implementation Coordination
- Directs coordination with the Office of Customer Experience and the Office of Digital Service in implementation of streamlining provisions in Section 1614 of the Agricultural Act of 2014.
Legal Entities
- For purposes of payment limitations, provides that a legal entity includes a legal entity created under Tribal law.
Geographically Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers
- Increases to $20 million per fiscal year the total amount of direct reimbursement payments allowed to be made to geographically disadvantaged farmers and ranchers under Section 1621 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008.
Crop insurance
Enhances Subsidies for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers
- Extends and increases the existing crop insurance premium subsidy for beginning farmers and ranchers to be more consistent with other USDA benefits by: Extending the eligibility period for beginning farmers and ranchers from 5 to 10 years; and
- Increases the additional subsidy available from 10 to 15 percentage points, which decreases over the first five years of participation from 15 to 10 points, in steps, and remains at 10 points for the final 5 years of participation.
Higher Area-Based Premium Subsidy
- Enhances the Supplemental Coverage Option (SCO) by: Increasing the premium subsidy on SCO to 80%;
- Increase coverage level to 88% to align with updates to the Agriculture Risk Coverage program;
- Directs Risk Management Agency (RMA) to continue to expand SCO coverage or other similar products to more crops; and
- Allows producers who purchase SCO to continue to be able to participate in the Price Loss Coverage program.
Expansion of Performance-Based Discount
- Authorizes the Secretary to offer additional performance-based discounts for practices that can be demonstrated to reduce risk relative to other practices, including by: Directing USDA to consider offering discounts for precision irrigation or fertilization, crop rotations, and cover crops; and
- Requires USDA to annually seek expert opinion and consider additional practices based on new evidence.
Improvements to Whole Farm and Micro Farm Insurance Plans
• Updates the whole farm insurance plan to improve effectiveness and simplify access for specialty crops and diversified farms, including by:
— Clarifies the required documentation to establish revenue history;
— Establishes parameters around adjustments to the revenue guarantee;
— Clarifies causes of loss for revenue declines;
— Increases the limit on growth expansion;
— Sets deadlines for approval or rejection of applications and providing clarity to producers when applications are rejected;
— Clarifies diversification requirements;
— Provides additional educational and training opportunities to approved insurance providers and insurance agents;
— Creates a pilot program for a pricing library for agents and insurance providers;
— Improves the data used in establishing coverage; and
— Improves producer access to agents experienced in selling whole farm insurance policies, among other provisions.
- Updates the micro farm insurance plan to improve effectiveness and simplify access by:
— Allows access to coverage for vertically-integrated operations;
— Allows producers who use micro farm to also buy underlying insurance policies;
— Directs the FCIC to simplify micro farm for producers with less than $1 million in revenue; and
— Requires RMA to undertake additional stakeholder engagement on additional improvements.
Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance
- Includes unweaned livestock as eligible for compensation through livestock disaster programs.
- Improves the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) by ensuring farmers are paid based on more accurate market data by requiring the Secretary in coordination with the
- Directs USDA to use the livestock weight categories specified in regulation.
- Directs USDA to more accurately adjust for normal mortality to streamline access to assistance for depredation losses covered by the LIP.
- Expands coverage to include losses of winter stockpile grazing, as well as transportation costs for feed and water due to shortages during drought through the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish (ELAP) program.
- Amends the Tree Assistance Program (TAP) to: Eliminate the requirement that tree mortality exceed 15% (adjusted for normal mortality) for eligible orchardists and nursery tree growers to access TAP;
- Clarifies that a TAP recipient may use assistance to replant using alternative varieties, crops, stand density, and location;
- Give TAP recipients 2 years to carry out replacement or rehabilitation activities;
- Expands access to crops grown on a biennial cycle; and
- Add pest infestation as an eligible natural disaster.
Disaster Assistance Authorization
- Authorizes and provides an authorization of appropriations for a permanent standing disaster program, which will provide a consistent framework for potential future ad hoc funding from Congress to speed up the delivery of disaster assistance.
- Establishes a mechanism to pre-position appropriated funds to be available for use as disasters occur, similar to other disaster programs like the Emergency Conservation Program.
- Requires that any producer receiving assistance under this program be required to purchase Federal crop insurance or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program coverage for the next two years.
Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program
- Makes enhancements to the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) to provide better protection for farmers who do not have access to crop insurance, and to help facilitate the transition of producers into the crop insurance program.
- Provides for a whole farm option for coverage for beginning farmers.
- Provides flexibility for beginning farmers to establish a revenue guarantee.
- Directs data coordination between the Farm Service Agency and the Risk Management Agency to facilitate the use of historical production records for crop insurance policies and to ensure that data can be used to establish new crop insurance products for crops for which coverage does not currently exist or is lacking.
- Codifies recent administrative action to provide for automatic enrollment in catastrophic coverage for underserved producers.
- Directs the establishment of a streamlined process for submission of records and acreage reports to assist producers to graduate on a voluntary basis to Whole Farm Revenue Protection or Micro Farm insurance by establishing the requisite actual production history.
- Clarifies that producers that rely on community ditches, including acequia systems, are eligible for NAP.
- Provides for increased buy-up coverage levels up to 70% and 75% coverage for non-forage crops, with associated premium fees for such coverage levels.
- Removes average AGI eligibility requirements and increases the payment limit on indemnities.
- Applies sequestration consistently.
Dairy
Dairy Margin Coverage
- Extends the authorization of the Dairy Margin Coverage Program through December 31, 2029.
- Updates production history for participating dairy operations, based on the highest production in any one of the 2021, 2022, or 2023 calendar years to ensure meaningful risk protection based on recent production rather than outdated production history from 2011-2013.
- Increases the quantity of milk eligible for Tier I coverage by 20%, from 5 million pounds to 6 million pounds.
- Extends the option for producers to receive an additional 25% discount on their premium cost by locking-in their coverage level and coverage percentage for five years.
Reauthorizations
- Extends the authorization of the Dairy Forward Pricing Program through December 31, 2029.
- Extends the authorization of the Dairy Indemnity Program through fiscal year 2029.
- Extends the authorization of the Dairy Promotion and Research Program, which funds foreign market development efforts through fiscal year 2029.
Related Provisions
- Directs the Department of Agriculture to improve collection of organic dairy market data.
- Directs the Department of Agriculture to conduct mandatory surveys of dairy plants every two years to estimate the average costs of manufacturing dairy products (i.e., “make allowance”).
Trade
Food for Peace Act
United States Policy
- Adds that it is the policy of the United States to use agricultural commodities under the Food for Peace Act to combat child wasting and its causes.
Provision of Agricultural Commodities
- Establishes that agricultural commodities are an option for non-emergency programs.
- Eliminates the funding limitation in section 202(e) of the Food for Peace Act and establishes that funds under section 202(e) may be used to assist organizations in implementing resiliency-building activities and to pay all associated costs of acquiring and making available commodities through emergency and non-emergency programs.
- Strikes the current definition of “eligible organization” from section 202(d).
Levels of Assistance for Emergency Food Assistance
- Strikes the current minimum metric tonnage and requires that 40% of Food for Peace appropriated funds be spent on commodities and ocean shipping for emergency food assistance.
- Maintains the waiver on minimum levels of assistance, but if a waiver is utilized, USAID is required in the next fiscal year to meet the minimum commodity and ocean shipping requirement plus the amount of waived funding for commodities and ocean shipping from the prior fiscal year.
Food Aid Consultative Group
Amends the termination date of the Food Aid Consultative Group to December 31, 2029.
Issuance of Regulations
- Requires USAID to issue all regulations and revisions to agency guidance necessary to implement amendments made to the Food for Peace Act, not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
Oversight, Monitoring, and Evaluation
- Extends the authorization of funding through fiscal year 2029 for the monitoring of emergency food assistance, including early warning assessments and systems to help prevent famines.
Assistance for Stockpiling and Rapid Transportation, Delivery, and Distribution of Shelf-Stable Prepackaged Foods
- Extends the authorization of appropriations through fiscal year 2029 for the preparation, transportation, delivery, and distribution of shelf-stable pre-packaged foods.
Definitions
- Adds “specialized nutrition products” to the definition of “agricultural commodity” to recognize products, like Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF), as an agricultural commodity.
- Adds the definition for “eligible organization” from section 202(d) of the Food for Peace Act (with the addition of a government of a foreign country) to section 402 in order to apply that definition to all sections of the Food for Peace Act.
Use of Commodity Credit Corporation
- Authorizes as an allowable Commodity Credit Corporation expense the transportation costs incurred in moving commodities from ports of entry abroad to storage and distribution sites and the program implementation costs to use the commodities.
Administrative Provisions
- Extends the authorization of funding through fiscal year 2029 for the Administrator to procure, transport, and store agricultural commodities for prepositioning within the United States and in foreign countries.
- Directs USAID and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to include an assessment of activities specifically targeting women and girls and the impact of those activities in addressing the unique needs of women and girls in their annual reporting to Congress.
Deadline for Agreements to Finance Sales or to Provide Other Assistance
- Extends the deadline for entering into agreements to finance sales or to provide other assistance under the Food for Peace Act to 2029.
Funds for Non-Emergency Food Assistance
- Directs that not less than 18% of Food for Peace funding to be spent on non-emergency assistance.
Micronutrient Fortification Programs
- Extends the authority for micronutrient fortification programs through fiscal year 2029.
John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program
- Extends the current minimum amount of Food for Peace funding for the John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program through fiscal year 2029.
- Extends the authorization of appropriations for Farmer-to-Farmer programming for sub-Saharan African and Caribbean Basin countries and other developing or middle-income countries or emerging markets through fiscal year 2029.
- Extends the authority for the Administrator to develop a grant program to facilitate new and innovative partnerships and activities through fiscal year 2029.
Agricultural Trade Act of 1978
Preserving Foreign Markets for Goods Using Common Names
- Defines “common name” with factors, including customary usage, product labeling and standards, and competent sources, and expands the definition of “unfair trade practice” to include the prohibition or disallowance of the use of a common name of an agricultural or food product from the United States.
- Adds a new section to Title III of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to coordinate with the U.S. Trade Representative to secure the right of U.S. producers and exporters to use common names for agricultural commodities or food products in foreign markets and requires USDA and USTR to submit a report to Congress every 2 years regarding their efforts to secure access for common names.
Technical Assistance to Improve Infrastructure in Foreign Markets for United States Agricultural Commodities
- Authorizes appropriations of $1 million for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029 for the Foreign Market Development program for the purposes of enhancing cold chain infrastructure through needs assessment, training, and other technical assistance.
Report on Competitiveness of United States Exports of Specialty Crops
- Expands the annual report required under the Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops program to include further details on barriers to U.S. exports of specialty crops.
Sec. 3204. Agricultural Trade Promotion and Facilitation
- Extends the $255 million in annual mandatory funding for export promotion programs under section 203 through fiscal year 2029, including:
- $200 million for the Market Access Program;
$34.5 million for the Foreign Market Development Program; - $8 million for the Emerging Markets Program;
- $9 million for Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops; and
- $3.5 million for the Priority Trade Fund.
Interagency Seasonal and Perishable Fruits and Vegetable Working Group
- Creates an interagency working group with representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to monitor and assess market impacts of seasonal and perishable fruit and vegetable imports and recommend actions to support the competitiveness of U.S. producers of seasonal and perishable fruits and vegetables.
Other Agricultural Trade Laws
Food for Progress Act of 1985
Amends the authorization dates for the Food for Progress Act to 2029.
- Prohibits USDA from awarding the entirety of Food for Progress annual funding to a single entity or a single country.
Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust Act
- Extends the authorities for the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust through 2029.
Promotion of Agricultural Exports to Emerging Markets
- Extends the authorization of export credit guarantee programs, including the Facilities Guarantee Program, through fiscal year 2029.
Nutrition
- Ensures that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) continues to reflect the realities of how Americans buy and prepare food by continuing the 5-year update to the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) included in the bipartisan 2018 Farm Bill. The TFP determines how SNAP benefits are calculated. The 2021 update to the TFP amounted to an increase of roughly $1.35 a day per person and provided the first meaningful update to SNAP benefits in almost 50 years, lifting 2.4 million people, including 1 million children, out of poverty.
About 41 million people – almost 80% of whom are children, seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans – use SNAP to buy food. SNAP, which averages about $6 a day per person, reduces food insecurity by as much as 30% and benefits farmers and local economies across the country.
Additional investments in nutrition programs:
- Removes the lifetime ban on nutrition assistance for individuals convicted of a drug related felony ensuring that people who have paid their debt to society can access SNAP and build pathways to self-sufficiency.
- Establishes a path for residents of Puerto Rico – who are American citizens – to participate in SNAP after more than 40 years of being excluded from the program.
- Addresses food insecurity among seniors through increased funding and key program changes.
- Strengthens Tribal nutrition programs by permanently allowing Tribes to procure their own food to distribute through the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDIPR).
- Allows former foster youth in higher education to more easily access SNAP and directs universities to connect students to nutrition assistance resources so students can focus on the future and not where they will get their next meal.
- Excludes the military basic allowance for housing from counting towards SNAP in order to support military families.
- Increases funding for food banks, which are a key tool to fight hunger, increases access to culturally appropriate food (including Kosher and Halal), and increases funding for the Farm to Food Bank program to reduce food waste and feed people in need.
- Improves training for health care professionals on SNAP so they can better care for their patients in need.
- Explores allowing hot foods like rotisserie chicken to be purchased with SNAP benefits to provide more options – particularly for seniors, people with a disability or experiencing homelessness or those who lack access to a kitchen or cooking equipment.
Increasing Integrity and Transparency in Nutrition Programs:
- Includes new provisions to increase transparency and reporting on the Thrifty Food Plan evaluation, and it includes significant measures to crack down on bad actors to strengthen the integrity of nutrition assistance without jeopardizing food access. This will improve the security of SNAP cards and transactions to prevent fraud, reimburse households who have had their SNAP benefits stolen through no fault of their own, and hold states accountable for complying with these security measures to protect SNAP households.
Supporting Pathways to Work and Self-Sufficiency:
- Supports people on their path to finding long-term, sustainable jobs by improving the SNAP Employment and Training Program (SNAP E&T). It ensures that the income earned through SNAP E&T does not make workers ineligible for SNAP so they can complete the program and find employment. It also ensures that people are informed about these job training opportunities, are referred to programs that fit their needs, and that funding is targeted to successful programs serving high need populations.
Improving Nutrition Security and Healthy Eating:
- Increases funding for nutrition education by providing the tools and information to help people eat healthier meals and lead physically active lifestyles tailored to the needs of the community. In order to overcome the barriers to accessing healthy food, the bill increases funding for the Healthy Food Financing Initiative.
- Increases funding and expands the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) and Produce Prescriptions so that more communities can access more fruits and vegetables. Incentivizing healthy food purchases is a powerful way to improve eating habits while maintaining the dignity of choice for families. The bill also provides more variety in the types of dairy products that can be purchased through the Healthy Fluid Milk Incentive Project established in the 2018 Farm Bill.
- Increases access to fruits and vegetables at food banks by providing new flexibility and more options for geographically isolated states and territories to buy food locally. Finally, the bill establishes a Nutrition Security Report directing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to measure whether Americans have access to healthy food.
Conservation
- Brings the conservation funding from the Inflation Reduction Act into the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill and maintains its focus on addressing the climate crisis. This funding will bolster the programs that put cash into farmers’ pockets for popular, voluntary conservation practices on farms and ranches around the country.
- For the first time, permanently authorizes these practices, and provides dedicated funding for small farms, addresses the longstanding backlog in applications, and makes several key improvements, including:
— Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP): For the first time, the bill makes addressing the climate crisis a specific goal of RCPP, which leverages private and public dollars to bring together partners to address regional conservation issues. It streamlines contracts, allows for advanced payments and administrative funding, and removes obstacles that have slowed putting these resources to work — especially for easements.
— Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP): The bill places a new focus on reducing methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and sets aside funding for small farms that have had difficulty accessing the program. It also ensures that organic farmers receive the same access and resources to EQIP as conventional farmers.
— Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP): The bill improves the largest conservation program by acre by adding a new focus on transitioning farmers to be more resilient to the changing climate, reducing greenhouse gases, building soil health. It also provides a guaranteed payment to small farmers and removes burdensome paperwork requirements for organic producers.
— Agriculture Conservation Easement Program (ACEP): The bill ensures that land can be protected for future generations, places a new emphasis on wetland stewardship, and streamlines the process that allows land trusts and other entities to purchase land and sell it at a lower cost to producers.
Conservation Reserve Program (including Farmable Wetland Program)
Conservation Reserve
- Permanently authorizes the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)and all of its subsidiary programs, including the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), Farmable Wetlands Program, Clean Lakes Estuaries and Rivers (CLEAR), Soil Health and Income Protection Program (SHIPP), and State Acres for Wildlife (SAFE) Program.
- Gradually increases the total CRP acreage cap from 27 million to 29 million acres between fiscal years 2025 and 2029, and then holds the permanent authorization at 29 million acres.
- Increases the minimum CRP Grasslands acreage from 2 million to 10 million acres and adds a grasslands enrollment acreage cap of 12 million acres.
- Expands the definition of eligible grassland for enrollment in CRP Grassland to include rangeland, pastureland, and pastureland devoted to silvopasture.
- Adds a priority for enrollment under CRP Grasslands for native grasslands.
- Expands the definition of eligible land under CRP to include lands that are required by local law to be treated for water quality issues.
- Clarifies the definition of eligible land under CREP to include additional rural land that will have a positive impact on water quality and be devoted to a riparian buffer if enrolled.
- Increases the percentage of program acres to be enrolled in the CLEAR Initiative from 40% to 45% of acres.
- Expands eligibility for Continuous Enrollment to include the farmable wetland program, CLEAR30, SHIPP, and land that will be enrolled under a State Acres for Wildlife enhancement practice.
- Continues the current enrollment floor for Continuous Enrollment at 8.6 million acres.
- Allows owners and operators with enrolled land devoted to riparian buffers and forest farming to specify the duration of their contract.
- Allows land planted with multi-year grasses and legumes to be considered to have a cropping history for the purposes of program eligibility.
- Allows land that includes grazing infrastructure established using cost-share assistance under CRP to reenroll upon expiration of the existing contract.
- Directs the Secretary to consider drought resilience and climate change adaptation, mitigation, and resilience in addition to the existing natural resource purposes of soil erosion, water quality, and wildlife habitat when determining the acceptability of contract offers.
Outdoor Recreation:
- Strengthens access to hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation so that this generation and future generations can continue to explore and enjoy the great outdoors.
Regional Conservation:
- Provides new authority to tackle pressing, regional conservation issues like water quality concerns in the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Growing American Food Exports
- Extends the authorization of appropriations for the Biotechnology and Agricultural Trade Program through fiscal year 2029.
International Food Security Technical Assistance
- Extends the authorization of appropriations through fiscal year 2029 for the Secretary of Agriculture to compile information from appropriate USDA mission areas relating to the improvement of international food security.
McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program
- Directs the program to prioritize women-led and women-owned organizations, in addition to indigenous and local organizations, in the development of programs and activities.
- Extends the authorization of appropriations through fiscal year 2029.
- Increases the percentage of program funding for procurement of local and regionally produced agricultural commodities and allows the Secretary to use such funds for capacity-building activities to support purchases of local and regionally produced commodities.
Global Crop Diversity Trust
- Extends the contribution limit of Federal Government funds at $5.5 million for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.
- Extends the authorization of appropriations for the Global Crop Diversity Trust through fiscal year 2029.
Local and Regional Food Aid Procurement Projects
- Extends the authorization of appropriations for USDA’s Local and Regional Food Aid Procurement Program through fiscal year 2029.
International Agricultural Education Fellowship Program
Extends the authorization of appropriations for the International Agricultural Education Fellowship Program through fiscal year 2029.