A bill to amend the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act to provide an updated national direction to the conditions under which the Federal Government will provide financial assistance to agricultural producers for needed soil, water, wood, and wildlife conservation on agricultural lands.

Summary

Amends the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act to state the recognition of Congress that agricultural producers have the responsibility for making the management decisions relating to: (1) changes in land use or cropping systems needed to conserve and develop soil and water resources on agricultural land; (2) the installation of long-term soil and water conservation measures; and (3) the improvement of water quality through the prevention and abatement of agriculture-related pollution. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to provide financial assistance to such producers based on farm and ranch conservation plans approved by local conservation districts. States the factors to be considered in the determination of the level of payments. Prohibits such payments for financial or technical assistance for drainage or filling on specified types of wetlands. Requires that such payments be divided among landlords, tenants and sharecroppers in proportion to the extent each contributes to the cost of carrying out the conservation or environmental enhancement measures. Transfers administration of such payments from the Production and Marketing Administration to the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. Directs that amounts appropriated for the purposes of such Act be available until expended. Repeals specified existing provisions of such Act relating to: (1) assignment of such payments; (2) the expansion of domestic and foreign markets for agricultural commodities; (3) advances for crop insurance; (4) transfer of funds to the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation; (5) the annual ceiling on obligations incurred for the purpose of carrying out such Act; and (6) the Secretary's authority to enter into contracts with farmers and ranchers to change cropping systems and land uses for conservation purposes.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

1 official file

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 18 May 1977

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.