Sec. 402. Soil quality improvement

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Chapter 2 of subtitle D of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 ( 16 U.S.C. 3838 et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following: The Secretary shall establish, in the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a program to provide grants and loans to agricultural producers with the goal, not later than January 1, 2026, of increasing to 50 percent the total percent of farmed acres in the United States under continuous no-till cultivation. The Secretary shall use not less than 20 percent of the funds made available for the program established under paragraph

(1)to make grants. An agricultural producer may use funds made available under this section to finance or otherwise incentivize the purchase or lease of equipment necessary to carry out continuous no-till cultivation, as determined by the Secretary. In establishing the program under this section, the Secretary shall include an education and outreach program, carried out by the Secretary in coordination with— State and local farm agencies; institutions of higher education; the National Institute of Food and Agriculture; the National Association of Conservation Districts; the Soil and Water Conservation Society; and the Agricultural Tri-Societies. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subchapter, the Secretary shall publish a report that includes— methodologies and protocols for tracking practices (including conservation tillage, continuous no-till cultivation, and the use of cover crops) that increase the uptake of carbon into soils, including— the use of satellite-based and other remote sensing technologies; and methods for monitoring net carbon transfer rates between soils and the atmosphere, including biogeochemical process models; and an assessment of— carbon stocks in United States soils as of the date of the report; the potential for United States soils as a reservoir for carbon; the net mass transfer rate of carbon between soils and the atmosphere on agricultural land and rangeland, including— conservation tillage land; no-till cultivated land; and land on which cover crops are used in rotation; and rangeland management practices that increase soil carbon sequestration. The Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service shall carry out a soil carbon uptake initiative within the environmental quality incentives program established under chapter 4 of this subtitle to foster the adoption and sustained use of practices that increase the amount and the rate of carbon uptake in soils. Of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall use to carry out this section $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2016 and each fiscal year thereafter, to remain available until expended. .

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16 USC 3838

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Sec. 402

Soil quality improvement

Cite16 USC 3838

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