[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3479 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3479
To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to encourage the planting of
cover crops following prevented planting, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 12, 2020
Mr. Thune (for himself and Ms. Stabenow) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to encourage the planting of
cover crops following prevented planting, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Cover Crop Flexibility Act of
2020''.
SEC. 2. COVER CROPS PLANTED DUE TO PREVENTED PLANTING.
(a) In General.--Section 508A of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7
U.S.C. 1508a) is amended--
(1) in subsection (c)--
(A) in paragraph (1)(B)(ii)--
(i) by striking ``collect an indemnity''
and inserting the following: ``collect--
``(I) an indemnity'';
(ii) in subclause (I) (as so designated),
by striking the period at the end and inserting
``; or''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(II) an indemnity payment that is
equal to the prevented planting
guarantee for the acreage for the first
crop, if the second crop--
``(aa) is an approved cover
crop that--
``(AA) will be
planted for use as
animal feed or bedding
that is hayed, grazed
(rotationally,
adaptively, or at equal
to or less than the
carrying capacity), or
chopped outside of the
primary nesting season;
or
``(BB) will not be
harvested, such as a
crop with an intended
use of being left
standing or cover; and
``(bb) cannot be harvested
for grain or other uses
unrelated to livestock forage
or conservation, as determined
by the Corporation.''; and
(B) in paragraph (3)--
(i) by inserting ``a second crop described
in item (aa) or (bb) of paragraph
(1)(B)(ii)(II), or'' before ``double
cropping''; and
(ii) by striking ``make an election under
paragraph (1)(B)'' and inserting ``makes an
election under paragraph (1)(B)(ii)(I)''; and
(2) by inserting at the end the following:
``(f) Prevented Planting Coverage Factors.--For producers that
plant cover crops following prevented planting, the Corporation may
provide separate prevented planting coverage factors that include
preplanting costs, the cost of cover crop seed, and the cost of fencing
and supplying water to livestock.''.
(b) Research and Development.--Section 522(c) of the Federal Crop
Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1522(c)) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(20) Cover crops.--
``(A) In general.--The Corporation shall carry out
research and development, or offer to enter into one or
more contracts with one or more qualified persons to
carry out research and development, regarding a policy
to insure crops on fields that regularly utilize cover
crops.
``(B) Requirements.--Research and development under
subparagraph (A) shall include--
``(i) a review of prevented planting
coverage factors described in section 508A(f)
and an evaluation of whether to include cover
crop seed costs and costs related to grazing in
the calculation of a factor;
``(ii) the extent to which cover crops
reduce the risk of subsequent prevented
planting;
``(iii) the extent to which cover crops
make crops more resilient to or otherwise
reduce the risk of loss resulting from natural
disasters such as drought;
``(iv) the extent to which increased
regularity of using cover crops or interactions
with other practices such as tillage or
rotation affects risk reduction;
``(v) whether rotational, adaptive, or
other prescribed grazing of cover crops can
maintain or improve risk reduction; and
``(vi) how best to account for any reduced
risk and provide a benefit to producers using
cover crops through a separate plan or policy
of insurance.
``(C) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the
date of enactment of this paragraph, the Corporation
shall make available on the website of the Corporation,
and submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House
of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, a report that--
``(i) describes the results of the research
and development carried out under subparagraph
(A); and
``(ii) includes any recommendations with
respect to those results.''.
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