One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1): Section 10102, Agricultural Conservation

One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1): Section 10102, Agricultural Conservation

One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1): Section 10102, Agricultural Conservation

June 6, 2025 (IN12560)

On May 22, 2025, the House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), providing for budget reconciliation pursuant to the FY2025 House budget resolution (H.Con.Res. 14). Title 1 (House Committee on Agriculture) of H.R. 1 would make changes to nutrition assistance, farm support, conservation, and other types of programs typically authorized and funded through omnibus farm bills. The most recent farm bill, the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 farm bill; P.L. 115-334), expired in 2023 and has been extended twice to cover FY2024 and FY2025 and the 2024 and 2025 crop years (P.L. 118-22, Division B, §102, and P.L. 118-158, Division D, §4101). In the 118th Congress, the House Committee on Agriculture ordered reported H.R. 8467, which did not advance to the floor. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry's chair introduced S. 5335, but the bill was not considered by the committee. Neither committee has introduced a farm bill in the 119th Congress.

The budget reconciliation process allows Congress to develop and consider certain legislation that would affect direct spending, revenues, and/or the debt limit using expedited procedures. H.Con.Res. 14 included a reconciliation directive to the House Committee on Agriculture to develop and submit changes to laws within its jurisdiction that would reduce the deficit by at least $230 billion over FY2025-FY2034. In total, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Title I provisions as passed would reduce the deficit by $238.1 billion over FY2025-FY2034, which includes $1.8 billion in reductions from agricultural conservation programs.

H.R. 1 would repeal and repurpose supplemental funding for some agricultural conservation programs and fund conservation programs without a budgetary baseline, among other proposed changes. If H.R. 1 were enacted, other farm bill conservation programs and provisions would be set to expire at the end of FY2025 without further action by Congress.

Repeal and Repurpose

In 2022, Congress passed the legislation commonly referred to as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA; P.L. 117-169). As part of the IRA, Congress provided additional funding to selected farm bill conservation programs and extended the authority for those programs through FY2031. Conservation programs that received funding under the IRA and their remaining projected budget authority (net of sequestration, FY2025-FY2031) according to CBO's January 2025 Baseline include

Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)—$6.1 billion;

Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)—$2.4 billion;

Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP)—$1.0 billion; and

Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)—$3.7 billion.

Funding provided through the IRA is supplemental and not considered part of the farm bill baseline. Thus, once IRA funding is obligated by FY2031, only the farm bill baseline funding for conservation would remain. H.R. 1 would repeal unobligated IRA funds for EQIP, CSP, ACEP, and RCPP and repurpose them among the conservation programs, effectively adding funds to the permanent farm bill baseline. H.R. 1 would redistribute the funds provided to the four programs, giving a greater percentage to EQIP, CSP, and ACEP and a lower percentage to RCPP than those provided under the IRA. H.R. 1 would not retain the language in the IRA that required the additional funds be used for climate change-related conservation practices that improve soil carbon; reduce nitrogen losses; or reduce, capture, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions associated with agricultural production.

Repealed funds under H.R. 1 would add funding to other conservation programs that were not funded in the IRA, including some programs that did not have a budgetary baseline (see "Funding Programs Without Baseline") and the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Operations (WFPO) account.

WFPO assists state and local organizations with planning and installing measures to prevent erosion, sedimentation, and flood damage and typically receives discretionary funds through annual appropriations. In the 2018 farm bill, the WFPO account also received $50.0 million annually in permanent mandatory funding. H.R. 1 would add $100.0 million annually to the WFPO account, for a total of $150.0 million annually to remain available until expended. This is more than the total previous three fiscal years of WFPO annual appropriations ($14.7 million in FY2025, $35.0 million in FY2024, and $75.0 million in FY2023).

Remaining reductions in projected outlays from the repeal of the IRA funding, $1.8 billion in total from conservation, would count toward H.R. 1's overall deficit reduction total.

Funding Programs Without Baseline

Twenty-one programs in the 2018 farm bill received mandatory budget authority but are not assumed to receive such funding in the budget baseline beyond the original expiration of the 2018 farm bill. Three of these programs are in the conservation title and received $130 million in mandatory funding in the 2018 farm bill. Although funding authority was extended for FY2024, the FY2025 extension did not include funding, limiting these programs' operations. H.R. 1 would fund these programs at levels similar to previously funded levels under the 2018 farm bill. These additional funds would be effectively paid for with rescissions from the IRA (see "Repeal and Repurpose"). H.R. 1 would specifically fund the following programs, along with the additional budget authority:

Grassroots Source Water Protection Program—$1.0 million in FY2026;

Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program—$10.0 million annually for FY2025-FY2031; and

Feral Swine Eradication and Control Pilot Program—$15.0 million annually for FY2025-FY2031.

Expiring Programs and Provisions

Authorities for conservation programs not included in the IRA expired with other farm bill programs at the end of FY2023 and were subsequently extended through FY2025. The largest conservation program that is set to expire again at the end of FY2025 is the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CRP provides financial compensation (i.e., annual rental, incentive, and cost-share payments) for landowners to voluntarily remove land from agricultural production for an extended period, typically 10-15 years, for the benefit of soil and water quality and wildlife habitats. CRP outlays approximately $2.0 billion annually, according to CBO. Other provisions contained within the conservation title of the 2018 farm bill also are set to expire in FY2025, which could impact the function of agricultural conservation programs, regardless of their funding.