A bill 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 mandates the Secretary of Agriculture to consider certain acreage unplanted due to a lack of irrigation water as eligible for prevented planting payments under covered programs. To qualify, producers must have reasonably expected insufficient irrigation water, and the land must have functional irrigation infrastructure and have been irrigated in at least one of the previous four crop years. Additionally, the same crop must have been planted in one of the prior four years, and the land must not support dryland farming for that specific crop. The bill introduces limitations on payment amounts , reducing them by 50% for the fifth through eighth consecutive years, 75% for the ninth and tenth years, and 100% for the eleventh year and beyond, leading to permanent ineligibility. Furthermore, it directs the Secretary to revise existing regulations to include a lack of water from drought conditions at the irrigation source and to require consultation with Farm Service Agency county and State technical committees for disaster determinations.
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Timeline
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
A bill 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.
USA119th CongressS-4862| Senate
| Updated: 6/23/2026
This bill mandates the Secretary of Agriculture to consider certain acreage unplanted due to a lack of irrigation water as eligible for prevented planting payments under covered programs. To qualify, producers must have reasonably expected insufficient irrigation water, and the land must have functional irrigation infrastructure and have been irrigated in at least one of the previous four crop years. Additionally, the same crop must have been planted in one of the prior four years, and the land must not support dryland farming for that specific crop. The bill introduces limitations on payment amounts , reducing them by 50% for the fifth through eighth consecutive years, 75% for the ninth and tenth years, and 100% for the eleventh year and beyond, leading to permanent ineligibility. Furthermore, it directs the Secretary to revise existing regulations to include a lack of water from drought conditions at the irrigation source and to require consultation with Farm Service Agency county and State technical committees for disaster determinations.