To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to consider certain acreage not planted due to a lack of irrigation water to be eligible for prevented planting payments, and for other purposes.

This bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Farm Service Agency, to treat farm acres as "prevented from planting" when producers did not plant them because they reasonably expected too little irrigation water for that crop year. To qualify, the acres must have working irrigation equipment, have been irrigated in at least one of the past 4 years with enough water, have grown the same crop in at least one of the past 4 years, and be unable to support dryland farming of that crop. Payments for such acres would be cut by 50 percent in the fifth through eighth consecutive years, by 75 percent in the ninth and tenth years, and by 100 percent from the eleventh year on, after which the acres would be permanently ineligible. The bill also requires the Secretary to revise regulations so drought at the source of an irrigation supply counts as a drought-related lack of water, and so the Commodity Credit Corporation consults with local and state committees when determining natural disasters.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Jeff Hurd Republican sponsor
• 1 cosponsors