Farmers Fighting Climate Change Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2456 To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to provide for the establishment of climate change mitigation bundles, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 12, 2021 Ms. UNDERWOOD (for herself and Mr. GALLAGHER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to provide for the establishment of climate change mitigation bundles, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farmers Fighting Cli- 4 mate Change Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION BUNDLES. 6 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1240I(2)(B)(v) of the 7 Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa– 8 21(2)(B)(v)) is amended by inserting ‘‘climate change 9 and’’ before ‘‘increasing weather volatility’’. 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2456.IH H2456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2456 IH (b) RANKING OF APPLICATIONS.—Section 1 1240K(b)(1)(A) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 2 U.S.C. 3839aa–23(b)(1)(A)) is amended— 3 (1) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and in- 4 serting a semicolon; 5 (2) by redesignating clause (iii) as clause (iv); 6 and 7 (3) by inserting after clause (ii) the following: 8 ‘‘(iii) the degree to which the com- 9 bination of the benefits described in 10 clauses (i) and (ii) effectively target in- 11 creases in carbon sequestration or net re- 12 ductions in greenhouse gas emissions; 13 and’’. 14 (c) IN GENERAL.—Section 1240L of the Food Secu- 15 rity Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–24) is amended by 16 adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(m) ESTABLISHMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE MITI- 18 GATION BUNDLES.— 19 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY.—In entering into conserva- 20 tion stewardship contracts under section 1240K, the 21 Secretary shall make State- or region-specific cli- 22 mate change mitigation bundles available to pro- 23 ducers in all regions of the country, including by 24 making available climate change mitigation bundles 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2456.IH H2456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2456 IH appropriate to cropland, pastureland, rangeland, and 1 forest land. 2 ‘‘(2) FLEXIBILITY.—In designing climate 3 change mitigation bundles under this subsection, the 4 Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, 5 allow producers to select from among conservation 6 activities meeting the requirements of paragraph 7 (3)(A) in order to tailor a climate change mitigation 8 bundle to the site-specific needs of the producer. 9 ‘‘(3) CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION BUNDLE 10 DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘climate 11 change mitigation bundle’ means a grouping of con- 12 servation activities determined by the Secretary, 13 based on the best available science, to achieve sub- 14 stantial progress, when carried out together, to- 15 ward— 16 ‘‘(A) providing a net reduction of green- 17 house gas emissions; or 18 ‘‘(B) increasing carbon sequestration and 19 improving soil health.’’. 20 (d) REPORT.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 22 the first date on which climate change bundles are 23 made available to producers pursuant to section 24 1240L(m) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (as 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2456.IH H2456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2456 IH added by this Act), the Secretary of Agriculture 1 shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the 2 House of Representatives and the Committee on Ag- 3 riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a 4 report on the activities carried out under such sec- 5 tion. 6 (2) CONTENTS.—The Secretary shall include in 7 the report submitted under paragraph (1)— 8 (A) a summary of feedback, from pro- 9 ducers that have adopted climate change miti- 10 gation bundles pursuant to such section 11 1240L(m), regarding barriers to adoption of 12 such bundles, the makeup of such bundles, pay- 13 ment rates for such bundles, technical assist- 14 ance relating to such bundles, and other rel- 15 evant information; 16 (B) data on such producers, disaggregated 17 by gender, race, age, and congressional district; 18 (C) an assessment of barriers to the adop- 19 tion by producers of climate change mitigation 20 bundles, as identified by the Secretary; and 21 (D) recommendations on steps to increase 22 the adoption of climate change mitigation bun- 23 dles by producers, including recommendations 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2456.IH H2456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2456 IH for any statutory changes necessary to imple- 1 ment such steps. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:19 May 28, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2456.IH H2456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS