Conservation Compliance and U.S. Farm Policy Page: 4 of 27
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Conservation Compliance and U.S. Farm Policy
F ederal policies and programs traditionally have offered voluntary incentives to producers to
plan and apply resource-conserving practices on private lands. It was not until the 1980s
that Congress took an alternative approach to agricultural conservation through enactment
of the Food Security Act of 1985 (PL. 99-198, 1985 farm bill). The bill's more publicized
provisions-the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP),' highly erodible land conservation
(sodbuster), and wetland conservation (swampbuster)2 remain significant today. The latter two
"conservation compliance" provisions require that in exchange for certain U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) program benefits, a producer agrees to maintain a minimum level of
conservation on highly erodible land and not to convert wetlands to crop production.
The Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 farm bill, P.L. 113-79) added federal crop insurance subsidies
to the list of program benefits that could be lost if a producer were found to be out of compliance
with conservation requirements on highly erodible land and wetlands. Compliance violations
related to the loss of federal crop insurance premium subsidies now have separate considerations
from violations related to the loss of other farm program benefits. How compliance is calculated,
where compliance provisions apply, and traditional exemptions and variances were not amended.
The 2014 farm bill also extended limited protection for native sod in select states.
Recent Developments: 2015 Interim Final Rule
On April 24, 2015, USDA published an interim final rule (2015 rule) implementing the 2014 farm
bill's changes to conservation compliance.' The rule made three main amendments: (1) applied
conservation compliance provisions to federal crop insurance premium subsidies, (2) modified
easement provisions related to wetland mitigation banks, and (3) amended provisions related to
agency discretion for certain violations. Changes made by the rule are discussed further in the
"Issues for Congress" section.
Conservation Compliance Today
The 1985 farm bill included a number of significant conservation provisions designed to reduce
crop production and conserve soil and water resources. The highly erodible land conservation
provision (sodbuster) introduced in the 1985 farm bill was not intended to "allow the Federal
government to impose demands on any farmer or rancher concerning what may be done with
their land; ... only that the Federal government will no longer subsidize producers who choose to
convert highly erodible land to cropland unless they also agree to install conservation system(s)."4
Similarly, the wetland conservation provision introduced in the 1985 farm bill does not authorize
USDA "to regulate the use of private, or non-Federal land"; rather, "the objective of this
provision is to deny various Federal benefits to those producers who choose to drain wetlands for
the purpose of producing agricultural commodities.",5 Since the enactment of the 1985 farm bill,
each succeeding farm bill has amended the compliance provisions. For a brief history of the farm
1 CRP is not discussed in depth in this report. For additional information and issues related to CRP, see CR5 Report
R42783, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP): Status and Issues.
2 Highly erodible land conservation and wetland conservation are collectively referred to as conservation compliance in
this report.
3~ USDA Office of the Secretary, "Conservation Compliance," 80 Federal Register 22873-22885, April 24, 2015.
4 H.Rept. 99-271, p. 84.
5 Ibid,p. 88.Congressional Research Service
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Stubbs, Megan. Conservation Compliance and U.S. Farm Policy, report, May 29, 2015; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc816019/m1/4/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.