Sec. 2401. Regional conservation partnership program
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Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 is amended by inserting after subtitle H, as added by section 2301, the following new subtitle: The Secretary shall establish a regional conservation partnership program to implement eligible activities on eligible land through— partnership agreements with eligible partners; and contracts with producers. The purposes of the program are as follows: To use covered programs to accomplish purposes and functions similar to those of the following programs, as in effect on September 30, 2013:
The agricultural water enhancement program established under section 1240I. The Chesapeake Bay watershed program established under section 1240Q. The cooperative conservation partnership initiative established under section 1243. The Great Lakes basin program for soil erosion and sediment control established under section 1240P. To further the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of soil, water, wildlife, and related natural resources on eligible land on a regional or watershed scale.
To encourage eligible partners to cooperate with producers in— meeting or avoiding the need for national, State, and local natural resource regulatory requirements related to production on eligible land; and implementing projects that will result in the carrying out of eligible activities that affect multiple agricultural or nonindustrial private forest operations on a local, regional, State, or multistate basis. In this subtitle: The term covered program means the following:
The agricultural conservation easement program. The environmental quality incentives program. The conservation stewardship program. The healthy forests reserve program established under section 501 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 ( 16 U.S.C. 6571 ). The term eligible activity means any of the following conservation activities: Water quality or quantity conservation, restoration, or enhancement projects relating to surface water and groundwater resources, including— the conversion of irrigated cropland to the production of less water-intensive agricultural commodities or dryland farming; or irrigation system improvement and irrigation efficiency enhancement.
Drought mitigation. Flood prevention. Water retention. Air quality improvement. Habitat conservation, restoration, and enhancement. Erosion control and sediment reduction. Other related activities that the Secretary determines will help achieve conservation benefits. The term eligible land means land on which agricultural commodities, livestock, or forest-related products are produced, including— cropland; grassland; rangeland; pastureland; nonindustrial private forest land; and other land incidental to agricultural production (including wetlands and riparian buffers) on which significant natural resource issues could be addressed under the program.
The term eligible partner means any of the following: An agricultural or silvicultural producer association or other group of producers. A State or unit of local government. An Indian tribe. A farmer cooperative. A water district, irrigation district, rural water district or association, or other organization with specific water delivery authority to producers on agricultural land. An institution of higher education. An organization or entity with an established history of working cooperatively with producers on agricultural land, as determined by the Secretary, to address— local conservation priorities related to agricultural production, wildlife habitat development, or nonindustrial private forest land management; or critical watershed-scale soil erosion, water quality, sediment reduction, or other natural resource issues.
The term partnership agreement means an agreement entered into under section 1271B between the Secretary and an eligible partner. The term program means the regional conservation partnership program established by this subtitle. The Secretary may enter into a partnership agreement with an eligible partner to implement a project that will assist producers with installing and maintaining an eligible activity on eligible land. A partnership agreement shall be for a period not to exceed 5 years, except that the Secretary may extend the agreement one time for up to 12 months when an extension is necessary to meet the objectives of the program.
Under a partnership agreement, the eligible partner shall— define the scope of a project, including— the eligible activities to be implemented; the potential agricultural or nonindustrial private forest land operations affected; the local, State, multistate, or other geographic area covered; and the planning, outreach, implementation, and assessment to be conducted; conduct outreach to producers for potential participation in the project; at the request of a producer, act on behalf of a producer participating in the project in applying for assistance under section 1271C; leverage financial or technical assistance provided by the Secretary with additional funds to help achieve the project objectives; conduct an assessment of the project’s effects; and at the conclusion of the project, report to the Secretary on its results and funds leveraged.
An eligible partner shall provide a significant portion of the overall costs of the scope of the project that is the subject of the agreement entered into under subsection (a), as determined by the Secretary. The Secretary shall conduct a competitive process to select applications for partnership agreements and may assess and rank applications with similar conservation purposes as a group. In carrying out the process described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall make public the criteria used in evaluating applications.
An application to the Secretary shall include a description of— the scope of the project, as described in subsection (c)(1)(A); the plan for monitoring, evaluating, and reporting on progress made toward achieving the project’s objectives; the program resources requested for the project, including the covered programs to be used and estimated funding needed from the Secretary; eligible partners collaborating to achieve project objectives, including their roles, responsibilities, capabilities, and financial contribution; and any other elements the Secretary considers necessary to adequately evaluate and competitively select applications for funding under the program.
The Secretary may give a higher priority to applications that— assist producers in meeting or avoiding the need for a natural resource regulatory requirement; have a high percentage of eligible producers in the area to be covered by the agreement; significantly leverage non-Federal financial and technical resources and coordinate with other local, State, or national efforts; deliver high percentages of applied conservation to address conservation priorities or regional, State, or national conservation initiatives; provide innovation in conservation methods and delivery, including outcome-based performance measures and methods; or meet other factors that are important for achieving the purposes of the program, as determined by the Secretary.
The Secretary shall enter into contracts with producers to provide financial and technical assistance to— producers participating in a project with an eligible partner, as described in section 1271B; or producers that fit within the scope of a project described in section 1271B or a critical conservation area designated under section 1271F, but who are seeking to implement an eligible activity on eligible land independent of a partner. Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall ensure that the terms and conditions of a contract under this section are consistent with the applicable rules of the covered programs to be used as part of the project, as described in the application under section 1271B(d)(3)(C).
Except with respect to statutory program requirements governing appeals, payment limitations, and conservation compliance, the Secretary may adjust the discretionary program rules of a covered program— to provide a simplified application and evaluation process; and to better reflect unique local circumstances and purposes if the Secretary determines such adjustments are necessary to achieve the purposes of the program. In accordance with statutory requirements of the covered programs involved, the Secretary may make payments to a producer in an amount determined by the Secretary to be necessary to achieve the purposes of the program.
The Secretary may provide payments to producers participating in a project that addresses water quantity concerns for a period of five years in an amount sufficient to encourage conversion from irrigated farming to dryland farming. To assist in the implementation of the program, the Secretary may waive the applicability of the limitation in section 1001D(b)(2) of this Act for participating producers if the Secretary determines that the waiver is necessary to fulfill the objectives of the program.
The Secretary shall use $100,000,000 of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2018 to carry out the program. Funds made available under subsection
(a)shall remain available until expended. In addition to the funds made available under subsection (a), the Secretary shall reserve 6 percent of the funds and acres made available for a covered program for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2018 in order to ensure additional resources are available to carry out this program. Any funds or acres reserved under paragraph
(1)for a fiscal year from a covered program that are not obligated under this program by April 1 of that fiscal year shall be returned for use under the covered program. Of the funds and acres made available for the program under subsections
(a)and (c), the Secretary shall allocate— 25 percent of the funds and acres to projects based on a State competitive process administered by the State Conservationist, with the advice of the State technical committee established under subtitle G; 50 percent of the funds and acres to projects based on a national competitive process to be established by the Secretary; and 25 percent of the funds and acres to projects for the critical conservation areas designated under section 1271F. None of the funds made available under the program may be used to pay for the administrative expenses of eligible partners. In addition to the criteria used in evaluating applications as described in section 1271B(d)(2), the Secretary shall make publicly available information on projects selected through the competitive process described in section 1271B(d)(1). Not later than December 31, 2014, and every two years thereafter, 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 status of projects funded under the program, including— the number and types of eligible partners and producers participating in the partnership agreements selected; the number of producers receiving assistance; and total funding committed to projects, including from Federal and non-Federal resources. In administering funds under section 1271D(d)(3), the Secretary shall select applications for partnership agreements and producer contracts within critical conservation areas designated under this section. In designating critical conservation areas under this section, the Secretary shall give priority to geographical areas based on the degree to which the geographical area— includes multiple States with significant agricultural production; is covered by an existing regional, State, binational, or multistate agreement or plan that has established objectives, goals, and work plans and is adopted by a Federal, State, or regional authority; would benefit from water quality improvement, including through reducing erosion, promoting sediment control, and addressing nutrient management activities affecting large bodies of water of regional, national, or international significance; would benefit from water quantity improvement, including improvement relating to— groundwater, surface water, aquifer, or other water sources; or a need to promote water retention and flood prevention; or contains producers that need assistance in meeting or avoiding the need for a natural resource regulatory requirement that could have a negative economic impact on agricultural operations within the area. The Secretary may not designate more than 8 geographical areas as critical conservation areas under this section. Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall administer any partnership agreement or producer contract under this section in a manner that is consistent with the terms of the program. The Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, ensure that eligible activities carried out in critical conservation areas designated under this section complement and are consistent with other Federal and State programs and water quality and quantity strategies. For a critical conservation area described in subsection (b)(1)(D), the Secretary may use authorities under the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act ( 16 U.S.C. 1001 et seq. ), other than section 14 of such Act ( 16 U.S.C. 1012 ), to carry out projects for the purposes of this section. . The amendment made by this section shall take effect on October 1, 2013.
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