Sec. 6. Agricultural decarbonization transition payments
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The purposes of this section are— to provide transition assistance to eligible producers in the agricultural, livestock, and forestry sectors to prepare for and facilitate entry into private sector greenhouse gas credit markets; and to provide for the collection and reporting of data under subsection (d). In this section: The term eligible land means land in the United States— on which farming, ranching, or forestry may physically and legally be conducted; and that is— cropland, grassland, pastureland, rangeland, hayland, or other land on which food, feed, fiber, crops, livestock, or other agricultural products are produced or capable of being produced; or nonindustrial private forest land (as defined in section 5(c) of the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 ( 16 U.S.C. 2103a(c) )).
The term eligible land includes land described in subparagraph
(A)that is Indian land (as defined in section 2601 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 ( 25 U.S.C. 3501 )). The term eligible producer means an individual or legal entity that— is an owner, operator, or tenant of eligible land; has control over the eligible land; is actively engaged in farming, ranching, or forestry on the eligible land, as determined by the Secretary; bears the risk of loss of the farming, ranching, or forestry on the eligible land; and has the ability to enter into an agreement with the Secretary to carry out qualifying practices described in subsection (c)(2) under the program. The term greenhouse gas emissions reduction means the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as a result of the adoption of qualifying practices described in subsection (c)(2), as compared to a historical baseline. The term historically underserved , with respect to an eligible producer, means that the eligible producer— is American Indian or Alaskan Native; is Asian or Asian American; is Black or African American; is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; is Hispanic; is disabled; is female; is new to farming, ranching, or forestry, as determined by the Secretary; has served in the United States Armed Forces; and has not operated a farm, ranch, or forestry operation; is new to farming, ranching, or forestry, as determined by the Secretary; or first obtained veteran status during the previous 5-year period; or is an owner, operator, or tenant of a limited resource farming, ranching, or forestry operation or has a household income not greater than the national poverty level. The term program means the program established under subsection (c)(1). The term Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture. The Secretary, in consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall establish a program to provide payments to eligible producers that will assist with the transition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the adoption of qualifying practices described in paragraph (2). To be eligible for payments under the program, a practice shall be— approved by the Secretary; and measurable, reportable, and verifiable for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as determined by the Secretary. Practices that the Secretary may determine to be qualifying practices under the program include— improved crop, soil health, water, and land management systems, including— diversified soil health-enhancing cropping systems that may include resource-conserving crop rotations, cover crops, and sod crops; conservation plantings, such as prairie strips, contour grass strips, filter strips and riparian buffers, field borders, hedgerows, windbreaks, alley cropping, and silvopasture or other agroforestry plantings; conservation tillage; fertilizer practice improvements, including biologically based nutrient management; ecologically appropriate reforestation and other sustainable forestry and related stewardship practices; application of soil carbon amendments, such as compost or biochar; restoration or avoidance of the conversion of grassland, wetland, and forest land; and the adoption of organic and other similar advanced agroecological production systems; livestock management, including— enteric fermentation reduction, including— improved feed, forage, and grazing; and feed additives approved by the Commissioner of Food and Drugs; improved manure management, including anaerobic digesters; and the integration of livestock and crop production; on-site capital upgrades and infrastructure investments, including— building and equipment refurbishment or upgrades, including energy efficiency technologies and digital technologies; and the adoption of renewable or clean energy; conservation easements, including farm, ranch, and forest land preservation, that include conservation activities to improve soil health and reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and other similar practices, as determined by the Secretary. In determining the rate and duration of a payment under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consider— the degree of additionality of the greenhouse gas emissions reduction; whether the recipient of the payment was an early adopter of 1 or more practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions; the likelihood that the applicable qualifying practice described in paragraph
(2)would have been carried out absent the provision of the payment; the degree of transitionality or permanence of the greenhouse gas emissions reduction; whether the applicable qualifying practice described in paragraph
(2)provides multiple environmental and health co-benefits in addition to reduced greenhouse gas emissions; the degree to which current soil conditions influence the greenhouse gas emissions reductions; the degree to which the recipient of the payment is a historically underserved eligible producer; the integration with and enhancement of payments and policies of similar Federal, State, or local programs; and any payments received, or to be received, by the applicable eligible producer from a private carbon offset market due to the applicable qualifying practice described in paragraph (2). A person that is determined to be in violation of any applicable water or air quality regulation, including under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act ( 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) (including regulations), shall not be eligible for any payment under paragraph
(1)during the period of the violation. The authority to provide payments under this subsection shall be effective for each of the first 10 fiscal years beginning after September 30, 2022. The Secretary shall establish an outcomes-based measurement system (referred to in this paragraph as the measurement system ) that uses the best available science and technology for cost-effective recordkeeping, modeling, and measurement of farm-level greenhouse gas emissions on eligible land enrolled in the program. Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate standards on the measurement system, based on information obtained from— agro-ecosystem models; remote sensing data and analysis; soil health demonstration trials; and field-level measurement. In developing the measurement system, the Secretary shall compile and publish a list of generally accepted public and private protocols for soil health and greenhouse gas programs and markets. The Secretary shall maintain the measurement system by— conducting an annual review of the measurement system; and making any necessary updates to the measurement system. For the purposes of providing payments under the program, the Secretary shall conduct a nationwide soil health and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions inventory that uses the best available science and data to establish baselines and expected average performance for soil carbon drawdown and storage and greenhouse gas emissions reduction by primary production type and production region. The Secretary shall— establish an accessible and interoperable database for the inventory established under subparagraph
(A)using the measurement system established under paragraph (1); and improve and update the database as new data is collected, but not less frequently than once every 2 years. The Secretary shall establish criteria for payments under the program to inform policy and markets established to promote soil carbon sequestration or greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The criteria established under subparagraph
(A)shall— have a documented likelihood to lead to transitioning towards or providing long-term net greenhouse gas emissions reductions, according to the best available science; be based in part on environmental impact modeling of the changes of shifting from baseline practices to new or improved practices; and prevent, to the maximum extent practicable, the degradation of other natural resource or environmental conditions. The Secretary— shall provide services described in subparagraph
(B)to eligible producers participating in the program; and may approve and provide oversight of 1 or more third-party agents to provide services described in subparagraph
(B)to eligible producers participating in the program. Services referred to in subparagraph
(A)are determining the greenhouse gas emissions reduction by— measurement; reporting; monitoring; and verification. Services referred to in subparagraph
(A)shall be provided using— the measurement system described in paragraph (1); and the criteria described in paragraph (3). The Secretary shall require a third-party agent approved under subparagraph (A)(ii) to use the resources, boards, committees, geospatial data, aerial or other maps, employees, offices, and capacities of the Department of Agriculture, to the maximum extent practicable, in providing services under that subparagraph to eligible producers. The Secretary shall establish— safeguards to protect the privacy of information that is submitted through or retained by a third-party agent approved under subparagraph (A), including employees and contractors of the third-party agent; and such other rules and standards of data security as the Secretary determines to be appropriate to carry out this subsection. The Secretary shall establish penalties for any violations of privacy or confidentiality under clause (i). Information collected for purposes of services provided under subparagraph
(A)may be disclosed to the public— if the information is transformed into a statistical or aggregate form such that the information does not include any identifiable or personal information of individual producers; or in a form that may include identifiable or personal information of a producer only if that producer consents to the disclosure of the information. The participation of a producer in, and the receipt of any benefit by the producer under, a program under this section or any other program administered by the Secretary may not be conditioned on the producer providing consent under clause (i)(II). Information collected for the purposes of services provided under subparagraph
(A)may be disclosed for the purposes of providing technical assistance, including audit, research, or improvement of a program under this section, either in aggregate or in a form that includes identifiable or personal information of a producer, if the Secretary obtains adequate assurances that— the recipient shall ensure privacy safeguards of identifiable or personal information of a producer; and the release of any data to the public will only occur only if the data has been transformed into a statistical or aggregate form. Not later than July 1, 2022, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to carry out this section, including— the amount of a payment under subsection (c), which shall be based on— the quantity of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions reduced; and the considerations described in subsection (c)(3); a methodology that any third-party agents approved under subsection (d)(4)(A)(ii) shall use to provide the services under that subsection, including— an accreditation process; and a conflict of interest policy; and provisions for the ownership and transportability of data, including historical data, generated by an eligible producer for the purpose of determining eligibility for payments under the program.
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