3.0.0 909 2023-01-11T13:36:57Z 2023-01-11T13:36:57Z Senate S 2017-04-07 115 ssaf00 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2017-04-07T16:49:57Z 2017-04-07 ssaf00 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. IntroReferral 2017-04-07 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress T000250 Sen. Thune, John [R-SD] John Thune R SD R. N K000367 Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN] Amy Klobuchar D MN 2018-05-15 False Agriculture and Food Agricultural conservation and pollution Farmland Forests, forestry, trees Land use and conservation Rural conditions and development Water use and supply Wetlands Wildlife conservation and habitat protection Agriculture and Food 00 2017-04-07 Introduced in Senate 2017-09-19T13:07:11Z Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2017

This bill amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to modify the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and conservation easement programs administered by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).

(CRP provides payments to farmers who agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species that will improve environmental health and quality.)

The bill modifies CRP to:

  • reauthorize the program through FY2023,
  • increase the annual acreage cap to 30 million acres,
  • revise the formula for determining state target acreage enrollment,
  • add restrictions for land that is planted to trees,
  • modify policies regarding grazing and the mechanical harvesting of vegetative cover, and
  • remove payment limitations for rural water districts or associations that use land enrolled in CRP to protect a wellhead.

The bill also modifies the Transition Incentives Program (TIP), which currently provides retired or retiring land owners or operators with additional payments for land enrolled in expiring CRP contracts in exchange for agreeing to sell or rent the land to a beginning farmer or rancher or a socially disadvantaged group.

The bill revises TIP to: (1) make landowners who are at least 65 years of age and not retiring eligible for the program, (2) permit the land to be transferred to a veteran farmer or rancher, and (3) modify policies regarding the early termination and transfer of CRP contracts.

In administering conservation easement programs, USDA must allow enrolled land to be: (1) modified for specified purposes; or (2) exchanged for land that has equal or greater conservation, wildlife, ecological, and economic values.

]]> Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2017 Display Title Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2017 Official Title as Introduced A bill to amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend and improve conservation programs, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Short Titles as Introduced Conservation Program Improvement Act of 2017 Introduced in Senate 2017-04-07T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-115s909is/xml/BILLS-115s909is.xml 2017-04-07 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.