H.R. 10411: To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to consider certain acreage not planted due to a lack of irrigation water to be eligible for prevented planting payments, and for other purposes.

This bill would change federal crop insurance-style support rules so that some farmland that was not planted because of a shortage of irrigation water could qualify for prevented planting payments.

What counts as eligible land

Under the bill, the Secretary of Agriculture would have to treat certain acreage as “prevented from planting” if all of the following are true:

• The farmer chose not to plant because they reasonably expected there would not be enough irrigation water for that crop year.
• The irrigation infrastructure needed to water the land is already installed and working.
• The land has been irrigated in at least one of the previous four crop years when water was available.
• The same crop was planted on that acreage in at least one of the previous four crop years.
• The land cannot realistically support dryland farming for that crop without irrigation.

The bill defines irrigation water broadly to include water available through rights, allocations, open access, or similar sources, and water coming from snowmelt, runoff, streams, reservoirs, groundwater, or comparable sources.

Changes to payment rules over time

The bill also adds limits if the same acreage is treated as prevented from planting for many consecutive years:

• For the 5th through 8th consecutive year, payments would be reduced by 50%.
• For the 9th and 10th consecutive year, payments would be reduced by 75%.
• For the 11th consecutive year and beyond, payments would be reduced by 100%.

Once the reduction reaches 100%, that acreage would become permanently ineligible for payments under the covered programs.

Regulatory updates required

The bill would direct the Agriculture Secretary to update certain regulations in two ways:

• It would clarify that drought-related lack of water includes drought at the source of an irrigation supply, not just on the farm itself.
• It would require the Commodity Credit Corporation, when making certain natural disaster determinations, to consult with county Farm Service Agency committees and state technical committees.

Relevant Companies

None found