H.R. 9572: Building Up Farmland Frontiers for Ecological Resilience Act

This bill would change the rules for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a federal program that pays farmers and landowners to take environmentally sensitive land out of production and use it for conservation instead.

What it would do

• It would add a new category of land that can qualify for CRP enrollment.
• The new category would include land that is otherwise already eligible for the program, but where a Tribal, state, or local law, ordinance, or regulation requires a resource-conserving or environmental protection practice.
• In other words, if a local or state rule already requires certain conservation or environmental measures on the land, that land could still be enrolled in CRP.
• However, land would not qualify under this new category if the conservation requirement was imposed through an administrative order or a court order.

Other changes

• The bill also makes a few wording changes in existing CRP law to fit this new eligibility category.
• Its overall purpose is to clarify which land can be enrolled in the program, rather than to overhaul the program itself.

Practical effect

If enacted, the bill could make it easier for some landowners to enroll land in CRP when conservation requirements already exist under Tribal, state, or local rules. It would likely affect how USDA determines eligibility for certain parcels of farmland or other eligible land under the program.

Relevant Companies

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