HR 4428

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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

July 16, 2025

Ms. Underwood (for herself and Mr. Nunn of Iowa) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide additional payments for producers that, in participating in the conservation stewardship program, agree to adopt or improve, manage, and maintain perennial production systems, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the “Strong Farms, Strong Future Act”.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

Section 1240I(2) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-21(2)) is amended—

(1) in subparagraph (A), by inserting “enhancements,” after “practices,”; and

(2) in subparagraph (B)(v), by inserting “climate change and” after “mitigate against,”.

SEC. 3. STEWARDSHIP CONTRACTS.

(a) Evaluation of Contract Offers.—Section 1240K(b)(1)(A) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-23(b)(1)(A)) is amended—

(1) in clause (ii), by striking “; and” and inserting a semicolon;

(2) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause (iv); and

(3) by inserting after clause (ii) the following:

“(iii) other criteria consistent with an equal weighting of the factors described in clauses (i) and (ii), as determined by the Secretary, including criteria the Secretary determines are necessary to ensure that—

“(I) the program effectively targets improvements to soil health, increases in carbon sequestration, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions; and

“(II) other national, State, and local priority resource concerns are effectively addressed; and”.

(b) Contract Renewal.—Section 1240K(e) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-23(e)) is amended to read as follows:

“(e) Contract Renewal.—

“(1) In general.—The Secretary may provide the producer an opportunity to renew an existing contract in the first half of the fifth year of the contract period if the producer—

“(A) demonstrates compliance with the terms of the existing contract;

“(B) agrees to adopt and continue to integrate new or improved conservation activities across the agricultural operation, demonstrating continued improvement during the additional 5-year period, as determined by the Secretary; and

“(C) agrees, by the end of the contract period, to meet the stewardship threshold of at least 1 additional priority resource concern on the agricultural operation, if applicable.

“(2) Ranking and payments.—In determining whether to renew an existing contract under paragraph (1), and in calculating payments for such existing contract, the Secretary shall consider the full conservation benefits across the entire agricultural operation on eligible land that is subject to such existing contract, including—

“(A) the number of priority resource concerns for which the producer is expected to meet or exceed the stewardship threshold by the end of the contract period of the existing contract; and

“(B) the active management and maintenance of ongoing conservation activities, including—

“(i) the conservation activities adopted during the contract period of the existing contract; and

“(ii) the new or improved conservation activities to be adopted if such existing contract is renewed.

“(3) Perennial production systems.—The Secretary may automatically renew an existing contract under paragraph (1) if—

“(A) the conditions under paragraph (1) are met; and

“(B) the producer installed or improved a perennial production system, as such term is defined in section 1240L(d)(1), during the contract period of the existing contract.”.

SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY.

(a) Conservation Stewardship Payments.—Section 1240L(c)(4) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-24(c)(4)) is amended—

(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking “and” at the end;

(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and

(3) by adding at the end the following:

“(C) adjust planned annual payments to account for inflation associated with planning, design, materials, installation, labor, management, maintenance, or training incurred by the producer over the life of the contract.”.

(b) Supplemental Payments for Resource-Conserving Crop Rotations, Perennial Production Systems, and Advanced Grazing Management.—Section 1240L(d) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-24(d)) is amended—

(1) in the subsection heading, by inserting “, Perennial Production Systems” after “Resource-conserving Crop Rotations”;

(2) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the following:

“(D) Perennial production system.—The term ‘perennial production system’ means a system of agricultural production that produces perennial species (including agroforestry products, perennial grains and oilseeds, perennial forages, and other perennial crops, as determined by the Secretary), including alley cropping, multifunctional riparian buffers, windbreaks, shelterbelts, forest farming, silvopasture, and other related practices, as determined by the Secretary.”;

(3) in paragraph (2)—

(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking “or” at the end;

(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and

(C) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following:

“(C) a perennial production system.”; and

(4) in paragraph (3), by striking “or advanced grazing management” and inserting “, advanced grazing management, or a perennial production system”.

(c) Establishment of Climate Change Mitigation Bundles.—Section 1240L of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-24) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(m) Establishment of Climate Change Mitigation Bundles.—

“(1) Climate change mitigation bundle defined.—In this subsection, the term ‘climate change mitigation bundle’ means a grouping of conservation activities, determined by the Secretary and based on the best available science, to achieve substantial progress, when carried out together, toward—

“(A) providing a net reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; or

“(B) increasing carbon sequestration and improving soil health.

“(2) Availability.—In entering into a contract with a producer under the program, the Secretary shall make available State- or region-specific climate change mitigation bundles to such a producer, including climate change mitigation bundles for cropland, pastureland, rangeland, and forest land.

“(3) Flexibility.—The Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, design climate change mitigation bundles that allow a producer to select conservation activities that meet the requirements of paragraph (1)(A) in order to tailor a climate change mitigation bundle to the site-specific needs of such a producer.

“(4) Minimum bundles offered.—The Secretary shall make available at least 1 climate change mitigation bundle for each of the following:

“(A) Perennial production systems, as defined in subsection (d)(1).

“(B) Soil health management systems, as defined in such subsection.

“(C) Advanced grazing management, as defined in such subsection.

“(D) Specialty crops.

“(5) Applicability to organic production.—Climate change mitigation bundles made available under paragraph (2) shall be equally accessible to organic and conventional producers, or separate additional bundles designed for organic producers shall be offered.

“(6) Promotion.—Each year, to the greatest extent practicable, the Secretary shall conduct targeted outreach and promotion regarding the availability of, and any changes to, climate change mitigation bundles to eligible producers.”.

(d) Report.—

(1) General.—Not later than 2 years after the date on which the Secretary of Agriculture makes available to producers the climate change mitigation bundles under section 1240L(m) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-24) (as added by subsection (c)), the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report on the activities carried out under such section.

(2) Contents.—The Secretary shall include in the report under paragraph (1)—

(A) a summary of feedback from producers that have adopted climate change mitigation bundles pursuant to section 1240L(m), regarding—

(i) barriers to adoption of such bundles;

(ii) the makeup of such bundles;

(iii) payment rates for such bundles;

(iv) technical assistance relating to such bundles; and

(v) other relevant information, as determined by the Secretary;

(B) data on such producers disaggregated by gender, race, age, and congressional district;

(C) an assessment of barriers, as identified by the Secretary, to the adoption of climate change mitigation bundles by producers;

(D) recommendations on steps to increase the adoption of climate change mitigation bundles by producers, including recommendations for any statutory changes necessary to implement such steps;

(E) average per acre estimates of greenhouse gases mitigated and carbon sequestered for each climate change mitigation bundle offered; and

(F) a summary of the outreach and promotional activities conducted by the Secretary to promote the availability of climate change mitigation bundles.

(3) Climate change mitigation bundle defined.—In this subsection, the term “climate change mitigation bundle” has the meaning given such term in section 1240L(m)(1) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa-24) (as added by subsection (c)). <all>