Sec. 6. Soil Carbon Inventory and Analysis Network

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Chapter 5 of subtitle D of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 is amended by inserting after section 1240M ( 16 U.S.C. 3839bb ) the following: In this section: The term conservation activities has the meaning given the term in section 1240I. The term eligible land means public and private cropland, rangeland, pastureland, and wetlands in the United States. The term program means the program established under subsection (b)(1). The term regional resource area means a contiguous area of eligible land that has similar resource characteristics.

The term resource characteristics means— geographic, climate, natural resource, and soil type characteristics; and any other characteristics that the Secretary determines to be appropriate for the purpose of carrying out the program. The term Secretary means the Secretary, acting jointly through the Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Administrator of the Agricultural Research Service. The Secretary shall establish a program to inventory, monitor, and analyze soil carbon changes on eligible land in the United States.

The purposes of the program are— to analyze soil properties, including soil organic carbon, across space, time, and depth; to analyze the impacts of land management strategies, including conservation activities, on soil carbon sequestration; and to inform any tools of the Secretary designed to predict the impacts of different land management practices, including implementing conservation activities, on greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbon sequestration across the United States.

In carrying out the program, the Secretary shall consult with the Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Chief of the Forest Service, the Chief Data Officer, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary of Energy, and the head of any other department or agency that the Secretary determines to be appropriate. The Secretary shall select sample sites under the program by taking into consideration— the accessibility of sites; the ease of collecting repeated measurements over time; and such other factors as the Secretary determines to be appropriate.

In selecting sample sites under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall give preference to sites that have been used for soil testing previously. The Secretary shall select sufficient sample sites under paragraph

(1)to analyze changes in soil carbon across regional resource areas, as determined by the Secretary, over time, taking into account the geographical size and heterogeneity of each regional resource area. Every 5 years, the Secretary shall prepare an inventory of soil carbon stocks on eligible land, under which the Secretary shall collect measurements at each sample site selected under subsection (c). The Secretary shall ensure that the methodology developed under section 3(a) of the Advancing Research on Agricultural Climate Impacts Act of 2023 is used for purposes of conducting measurements at each sample site under the program. The Secretary shall measure a sufficient number of samples to analyze changes in soil carbon at each sample site selected under subsection

(c)for each inventory under paragraph (1). In preparing the inventory under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall document the following characteristics for each sample site selected under subsection (c): Soil type and texture. Land use history, including conservation activities. Environmental characteristics, such as temperature and precipitation. Other characteristics, as determined by the Secretary. Before selecting a sample site under subsection

(c)or conducting any measurement under subsection (d)(1), the Secretary shall obtain authorization from the owner of the eligible land. The Secretary may not require authorization under paragraph

(1)or any other participation in any activity under this section as a condition on receipt of any benefit under a program administered by the Secretary. In carrying out the program, the Secretary shall ensure that data is collected and analyzed while respecting relevant privacy safeguards and does not include any identifiable, proprietary, or personal information of individual land owners or operators. Data collected under the program shall be maintained in a data center operated by the Secretary. The data center described in paragraph

(1)may be operated in partnership with 1 or more of the following entities, if the entity complies with paragraph (4): An 1862 Institution (as defined in section 2 of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 ( 7 U.S.C. 7601 )). An 1890 Institution (as defined in that section). A 1994 Institution (as defined in section 532 of the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 ( 7 U.S.C. 301 note; Public Law 103–382 )). Institutions of higher education with expertise in predictive modeling, large-scale data collection, soil carbon research, or agricultural land management to mitigate climate change. Federal research centers. An entity described in any of subparagraphs

(A)through

(E)of paragraph

(2)seeking to enter into a partnership to manage the data center described in paragraph

(1)shall submit to the Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require. The data center described in paragraph

(1)shall— use the industry standard protocols to protect identifiable, proprietary, or personal information of individual land owners or operators; ensure that individual producer data is not sold through the center; and comply with all applicable privacy requirements, including— section 1770 of the Food Security Act of 1985 ( 7 U.S.C. 2276 ); section 1619 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 ( 7 U.S.C. 8791 ); section 502(c) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act ( 7 U.S.C. 1502(c) ); and section 552 of title 5, United States Code. The Secretary may release or disclose information maintained in the data center described in paragraph

(1)pursuant to section 1619(b)(3)(A)(i) of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 ( 7 U.S.C. 8791(b)(3)(A)(i) ) to researchers for the purposes of statistically analyzing the information. On completion of each inventory under subsection (d)(1), the Secretary shall make publicly available— the statistical or aggregated form of data collected from measurements under that subsection; information regarding the methodology used to collect that data; and any analysis made of the measurements described in paragraph (1). On completion of each inventory under subsection (d)(1), the Secretary shall prepare, publish, and make available to the public a report that— contains a description of soil carbon trends, including by incorporating measurements conducted under subsection

(d)during the 5 years covered by the report; contains an analysis of the impact of different land management practices, including implementing 1 or more conservation activities, on soil carbon levels; contains an analysis of the effect of weather and climate variability on the observed trends; contains an analysis of how land management practices, including conservation activities, that influence soil carbon sequestration may affect the rate of emissions of other greenhouse gases in the agricultural sector, including methane and nitrous oxide; and establishes a benchmark for the baseline soil carbon absent additional conservation activities. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of the Advancing Research on Agricultural Climate Impacts Act of 2023 , the Secretary shall prepare and submit to Congress a strategic plan to implement and carry out this section, which shall describe in detail— the organization and procedures necessary to implement and carry out this section; the plan for measurements in each regional resource area under subsection (d)(1) for the first 5-year interval, including the schedule and the number of samples collected from each sample site selected under subsection (c). There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $17,500,000 for each fiscal year. .

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