To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide additional payments for producers that, in participating in the conservation stewardship program, agree to adopt or improve, manage, and maintain perennial production systems, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Underwood (for herself and Mr. Nunn of Iowa) introduced …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Strong Farms, Strong Future Act modifies the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) to prioritize climate-smart agricultural practices. Key changes include:
- Adding climate change mitigation as a criterion for evaluating stewardship contracts
- Enabling automatic contract renewals for producers who install perennial production systems
- Allowing inflation adjustments to annual payments for conservation activities
- Requiring USDA to offer "climate change mitigation bundles" - packages of conservation practices designed to reduce greenhouse gases or increase carbon sequestration
- Mandating outreach to organic and conventional producers about available climate programs
Who Benefits and How
Agricultural Producers (especially those pursuing climate-smart practices)
- Gain access to new climate mitigation bundles with tailored conservation options
- Can receive inflation-adjusted payments over multi-year contracts
- Automatic contract renewal opportunity for those installing perennial systems
- Both organic and conventional producers get equal access to climate bundles
Environmental and Climate Advocates
- Bill prioritizes soil health, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gas reduction
- Creates structured pathway for climate-conscious farming adoption
Perennial Crop Farmers (agroforestry, silvopasture, forest farming)
- New "perennial production system" definition explicitly includes their practices
- Automatic contract renewal incentive for adopting perennial systems
Who Bears the Burden and How
USDA/Secretary of Agriculture
- Must develop state/region-specific climate mitigation bundles
- Required to conduct annual outreach and promotion activities
- Must submit reports to Congress on program effectiveness
- Administrative burden of managing inflation adjustments and automatic renewals
Federal Budget
- Inflation adjustments to payments could increase program costs over time
- Expanded eligibility and incentives may increase overall program expenditures
Key Provisions
- Section 2: Adds "enhancements" and "climate change" to Conservation Stewardship Program definitions
- Section 3: Enables contract renewals with new conservation activities requirement; automatic renewal for perennial production systems
- Section 4: Inflation adjustment for payments; defines "perennial production system" (agroforestry, silvopasture, etc.); establishes climate change mitigation bundles
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to strengthen the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) by adding climate change mitigation criteria, enabling contract renewals with expanded conservation requirements, adjusting payments for inflation, introducing perennial production systems as a conservation practice, and establishing climate change mitigation bundles with targeted outreach to eligible producers.
Policy Domains
Conservation Stewardship Program Amendments
Likely Beneficiaries
- Agricultural Producers
- Perennial Crop Farmers
- Organic Producers
- Environmental Advocates
Likely Burden Bearers
- USDA
- Federal Budget
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Agriculture
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A system of agricultural production that produces perennial species including agroforestry products, perennial grains and oilseeds, perennial forages, and other perennial crops, including alley cropping, multifunctional riparian buffers, windbreaks, shelterbelts, forest farming, silvopasture, and related practices
A grouping of conservation activities, determined by the Secretary and based on best available science, to achieve substantial progress toward providing a net reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or increasing carbon sequestration and improving soil health
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology