[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1594 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1594

  To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to require the Secretary of 
    Agriculture to carry out a conservation program under which the 
 Secretary shall make payments to assist owners and operators of muck 
land to conserve and improve the soil, water, and wildlife resources of 
                               the land.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 21, 2011

Mrs. Gillibrand introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to require the Secretary of 
    Agriculture to carry out a conservation program under which the 
 Secretary shall make payments to assist owners and operators of muck 
land to conserve and improve the soil, water, and wildlife resources of 
                               the land.

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

SECTION 1. MUCK SOILS CONSERVATION.

    Chapter 5 of subtitle D of title XII of the Food Security Act of 
1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839bb et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``SEC. 1240S. MUCK SOILS CONSERVATION.

    ``(a) Establishment.--The Secretary shall carry out a conservation 
program (referred to in this section as the `program') under which the 
Secretary shall make payments to assist owners and operators of 
eligible land specified in subsection (b) to conserve and improve the 
soil, water, and wildlife resources of the land.
    ``(b) Eligible Land.--To be eligible for inclusion in the program, 
the land shall--
            ``(1) be comprised of soil that qualifies as muck, as 
        determined by the Secretary;
            ``(2) be used for production of an agricultural crop;
            ``(3) have a spring cover crop planted in conjunction with 
        the primary agricultural crop referred to in paragraph (2);
            ``(4) have a winter crop planted; and
            ``(5) have ditch banks seeded with grass that is maintained 
        on a year-round basis.
    ``(c) Payment Amounts.--The Secretary may provide payments of not 
less than $300, but not more than $500, per acre per year under the 
program.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the program $50,000,000 for 
each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013.''.
                                 <all>