Agriculture Resilience Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1337 To address the impact of climate change on agriculture, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 22, 2021 Mr. HEINRICH (for himself, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. BLUMENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To address the impact of climate change on agriculture, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Agriculture Resilience Act of 2021’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. Sec. 2. Definition of Secretary. TITLE I—NATIONAL GOALS Sec. 101. National goals. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1337 IS Sec. 102. Action plan. TITLE II—RESEARCH Sec. 201. Research, extension, and education purpose. Sec. 202. Regional hubs for risk adaptation and mitigation to climate change. Sec. 203. Sustainable agriculture research and education resilience initiative. Sec. 204. Sustainable agriculture technology development and transfer pro- gram. Sec. 205. Long-Term Agroecological Network. Sec. 206. Public breed and cultivar research. Sec. 207. ARS Climate Scientist Career Development Program. Sec. 208. Agricultural Climate Adaptation and Mitigation through AFRI. Sec. 209. Specialty crop research initiative. Sec. 210. Integrated pest management. Sec. 211. National Academy of Sciences study. Sec. 212. Appropriate technology transfer for rural areas program. TITLE III—SOIL HEALTH Sec. 301. Crop insurance. Sec. 302. Environmental quality incentives program. Sec. 303. Conservation stewardship program. Sec. 304. State assistance for soil health. Sec. 305. Funding and administration. Sec. 306. Study and report on feasibility of agricultural carbon capture tax credit. Sec. 307. Conservation compliance. Sec. 308. National and regional agroforestry centers. TITLE IV—FARMLAND PRESERVATION AND FARM VIABILITY Sec. 401. Local Agriculture Market Program. Sec. 402. National organic certification cost-share program. Sec. 403. Exclusion of gain from sale of certain farm property and agricultural easements. Sec. 404. Farmland Protection Policy Act. Sec. 405. Agricultural conservation easement program. TITLE V—PASTURE-BASED LIVESTOCK Sec. 501. Animal raising claims. Sec. 502. Processing resilience grant program. Sec. 503. Conservation of private grazing land. Sec. 504. Conservation reserve program. Sec. 505. Alternative Manure Management Program. TITLE VI—ON-FARM RENEWABLE ENERGY Sec. 601. Rural Energy For America Program. Sec. 602. Study on dual-use renewable energy systems. Sec. 603. AgSTAR program. TITLE VII—FOOD LOSS AND WASTE Subtitle A—Food Date Labeling Sec. 701. Definitions. VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1337 IS Sec. 702. Quality dates and discard dates. Sec. 703. Misbranding. Sec. 704. Regulations. Sec. 705. Delayed applicability. Subtitle B—Other Provisions Sec. 711. Composting as conservation practice. Sec. 712. Amendments to Federal Food Donation Act. Sec. 713. Grants for composting and anaerobic digestion food waste-to-energy projects. Sec. 714. School food waste reduction grant program. SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY. 1 In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec- 2 retary of Agriculture. 3 TITLE I—NATIONAL GOALS 4 SEC. 101. NATIONAL GOALS. 5 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the goals established 6 under this title is to prevent climate change from exceed- 7 ing 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above preindustrial lev- 8 els through a national greenhouse gas emission reduction 9 effort. 10 (b) NATIONAL GOALS.—The national goals for the 11 agricultural sector shall be to achieve— 12 (1) not less than a 50 percent reduction in net 13 greenhouse gas emissions, as compared to those lev- 14 els during calendar year 2010, by not later than De- 15 cember 31, 2030; and 16 (2) net zero emissions by not later than Decem- 17 ber 31, 2040. 18 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1337 IS (c) SUBGOALS.—To achieve the national goals de- 1 scribed in subsection (b), there are established the fol- 2 lowing subgoals: 3 (1) RESEARCH.—The total Federal investment 4 in public food and agriculture research and exten- 5 sion should— 6 (A) at a minimum, as compared to that 7 total Federal investment for fiscal year 2021— 8 (i) triple by not later than December 9 31, 2030; and 10 (ii) quadruple by not later than De- 11 cember 31, 2040; and 12 (B) strongly focus on climate change adap- 13 tation and mitigation, soil health and carbon se- 14 questration, nutrient and manure management 15 to curb nitrous oxide and methane emissions, 16 agroforestry, advanced grazing management 17 and crop-livestock integration, other agro-eco- 18 logical systems, on-farm and food system en- 19 ergy efficiency and renewable energy produc- 20 tion, farmland preservation and viability, food 21 waste reduction, and any other related areas, as 22 determined by the Secretary. 23 (2) SOIL HEALTH.—The United States 24 should— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1337 IS (A) immediately become a member of the 1 Partners Forum and the Consortium of the 4 2 per 1000 Initiative, hosted by the Consultative 3 Group for International Agricultural Research, 4 with the aim of increasing total soil carbon 5 stocks by 0.4 percent annually to reduce carbon 6 in the atmosphere, restore soil health and pro- 7 ductivity, and thereby improve food security; 8 (B) sufficiently expand adoption of soil 9 health practices (including diverse crop rota- 10 tions, cover cropping, conservation tillage, pe- 11 rennial crop production systems, agroforestry, 12 composting, biologically based nutrient manage- 13 ment, and advanced grazing management, in- 14 cluding silvopasture)— 15 (i) to reduce nitrous oxide emissions 16 from agricultural soils, as compared to 17 those levels during calendar year 2021— 18 (I) by 25 percent by not later 19 than December 31, 2030; and 20 (II) by 75 percent by not later 21 than December 31, 2040; 22 (ii) to increase soil carbon stocks by 23 0.4 percent annually on at least 50 percent 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1337 IS of agricultural land by not later than De- 1 cember 31, 2030; and 2 (iii) to meet or exceed the threshold 3 described in clause (ii) on all agricultural 4 land by not later than December 31, 2040; 5 (C) expand implementation of regionally 6 appropriate cover crops and other continual liv- 7 ing cover so that— 8 (i) at least 50 percent of cropland 9 acres include 1 or more cover crops or 10 other continual living cover in the rotations 11 of the cropland acres by not later than De- 12 cember 31, 2030; 13 (ii) at least 75 percent of cropland 14 acres include 1 or more cover crops or 15 other continual living cover in the rotations 16 of the cropland acres by not later than De- 17 cember 31, 2040; 18 (iii) cropland acres are covered by 19 crops (including forages and hay crops), 20 cover crops, or residue for an average of 21 75 percent of each calendar year by not 22 later than December 31, 2030; and 23 (iv) cropland acres are covered by 24 crops (including forages and hay crops), 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1337 IS cover crops, or residue for an average of 1 85 percent of each calendar year by not 2 later than December 31, 2040; and 3 (D) encourage conversion of at least— 4 (i) 15 percent of annual grain crop 5 acres, as in use on the date of enactment 6 of this Act, to agroforestry, perennial graz- 7 ing, perennial grain crops, or other peren- 8 nial production systems by not later than 9 December 31, 2030; and 10 (ii) 30 percent of annual grain crop 11 acres, as in use on the date of enactment 12 of this Act, to agroforestry, perennial graz- 13 ing, perennial grain crops, or other peren- 14 nial production systems by not later than 15 December 31, 2040. 16 (3) FARMLAND PRESERVATION.— 17 (A) 2030 GOAL.—The rate of conversion of 18 agricultural land to development, and the rate 19 of conversion of grassland to cropping, should 20 be reduced by at least 80 percent, as compared 21 to those rates for calendar year 2021 by not 22 later than December 31, 2030. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1337 IS (B) 2040 GOAL.—There should be no con- 1 version of agricultural land to development, or 2 grassland to cropping, by December 31, 2040. 3 (4) PASTURE-BASED LIVESTOCK.—The live- 4 stock sector should— 5 (A) establish advanced grazing manage- 6 ment, including management-intensive rota- 7 tional grazing, on at least— 8 (i) 50 percent of all grazing land by 9 not later than December 31, 2030; and 10 (ii) 100 percent of all grazing land by 11 not later than December 31, 2040; 12 (B) reduce greenhouse gas emissions re- 13 lated to feeding of ruminants by— 14 (i) at least— 15 (I) 1⁄3 by not later than Decem- 16 ber 31, 2030; and 17 (II) 1⁄2 by not later than Decem- 18 ber 31, 2040; and 19 (ii) reducing nongrazing feeding of 20 ruminants, growing feed grains and for- 21 ages with soil health and nutrient manage- 22 ment practices that minimize net green- 23 house gas emissions from cropland, and 24 designing livestock feed mixtures and sup- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1337 IS plements to mitigate enteric methane emis- 1 sions; 2 (C) re-integrate livestock and crop produc- 3 tion systems at farm, local, and regional levels 4 to facilitate environmentally sound management 5 and field application of manure and reduce the 6 need for long-term manure storage by increas- 7 ing acreage on individual farms under crop-live- 8 stock integrated management by at least— 9 (i) 100 percent as compared to cal- 10 endar year 2017 levels by not later than 11 December 31, 2030; and 12 (ii) 300 percent as compared to cal- 13 endar year 2017 levels by not later than 14 December 31, 2040; and 15 (D)(i) immediately cease building any new 16 or expanded waste lagoons for confined animal 17 feeding operations; and 18 (ii) convert— 19 (I) by not later than December 31, 20 2030, at least 1⁄3 of wet manure handling 21 and storage to non-digester dairy or live- 22 stock methane management methods (as 23 defined in section 1240T(a) of the Food 24 Security Act of 1985); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1337 IS (II) by not later than December 31, 1 2040, at least 2⁄3 of wet manure handling 2 and storage to non-digester dairy or live- 3 stock methane management methods (as so 4 defined). 5 (5) ON-FARM RENEWABLE ENERGY.—The agri- 6 cultural sector should— 7 (A) implement energy audits and energy 8 efficiency improvements on at least— 9 (i) 50 percent of farms by not later 10 than December 31, 2030; and 11 (ii) 100 percent of farms by not later 12 than December 31, 2040; 13 (B) expand on-farm clean renewable en- 14 ergy production to a level that is at least— 15 (i) double the 2017 level by not later 16 than December 31, 2030; and 17 (ii) triple the 2017 level by not later 18 than December 31, 2040; and 19 (C) install and manage on-farm renewable 20 energy infrastructure in a manner that does 21 not— 22 (i) compromise the climate resilience 23 and greenhouse gas mitigation goals of this 24 Act; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1337 IS (ii) adversely impact farmland, soil, 1 and water resources, or food production. 2 (6) FOOD LOSS AND WASTE.—Consistent with 3 the Food Waste Challenge launched by the Depart- 4 ment of Agriculture and the Environmental Protec- 5 tion Agency in June 2013, and the national food 6 loss and waste goal announced in September 2015, 7 the food and agricultural sector should commit to— 8 (A) at least a 50 percent reduction in food 9 loss and waste by not later than December 31, 10 2030; 11 (B) at least a 75 percent reduction in food 12 loss and waste by not later than December 31, 13 2040; and 14 (C) in a manner consistent with the Food 15 Recovery Hierarchy established by the Environ- 16 mental Protection Agency, diverting from land- 17 fills through composting and other means at 18 least— 19 (i) 50 percent of unavoidable food 20 waste and food processing byproducts by 21 not later than December 31, 2030; and 22 (ii) 90 percent of unavoidable food 23 waste and food processing byproducts by 24 not later than December 31, 2040. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:14 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1337.IS S1337 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1337 IS SEC. 102. ACTION PLAN. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 2 (1) develop a plan (referred to in this section as 3 the ‘‘plan’’), which may involve actions to be taken 4 by other Federal agencies, to make significant and 5 rapid progress to achieve the national goals de- 6 scribed in section 101; and 7 (2) make the plan available for public comment 8 for a period of not less than 90 days. 9 (b) ACTIONS.—Actions under the plan shall— 10 (1) include issuing regulations, providing incen- 11 tives, carrying out research and development pro- 12 grams, and any other actions the Secretary deter- 13 mines are necessary to achieve the national goals de- 14 scribed in section 101; and 15 (2) be designed— 16 (A) to fully implement the provisions of 17 this Act and the amendments made by this Act; 18 (B) to provide benefits for farmers and 19 ranchers, rural communities, small businesses, 20 and consumers; 21 (C) to improve public health, resilience, 22 and environmental outcomes, especially for 23 rural and low-income hous [Text truncated for display. 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