Sponsors (3)
The bill directs new funding, planning, and research support toward perennial, agroforestry, and carbon- and soil-health practices—helping farmers adopt climate-smart systems and boosting regional innovation—while increasing federal costs, administrative complexity, and the risk that smaller producers or local conservation priorities may be left behind.
Farmers and ranchers (including producers of perennial systems and agroforestry) gain payments and financial support that reduce income forgone and transition risk when switching to perennial or resource-conserving systems.
Farmers and rural communities gain expanded planning and technical assistance for greenhouse gas reduction and soil-health practices (including soil testing and outreach), directing resources to climate mitigation and long-term soil productivity on working lands.
Producers and local stakeholders get new research, demonstration farms, regional grants, and consolidated information that improve access to agroforestry practices, scientific coordination, and locally tailored project funding to boost resilience and profitability.
Taxpayers face higher federal costs from expanded payments, soil-testing subsidies, regional grants, and new Centers and administrative activities required to implement the program.
NRCS program emphasis on greenhouse-gas planning and carbon sequestration could shift limited resources away from other local conservation priorities (such as erosion control or water-quality work) that matter to some regions and producers.
Small or resource-limited producers may be disadvantaged—whole-operation adoption and stewardship thresholds for renewals, uneven access to technical assistance, and grant/demo participation requirements could exclude or burden smaller operations.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Adds soil-health and greenhouse-gas planning to conservation programs, expands perennial and agroforestry practices and payments, revises CSP contract rules, and creates a national agroforestry center with regional centers.
Introduced November 4, 2025 by Donald Sternoff Beyer · Last progress November 4, 2025
Adds soil-health and climate-focused planning and practice support to existing farm conservation programs, expands eligibility for conservation trials and payments to include perennial production systems and agroforestry, and creates a national agroforestry research and demonstration center plus regional centers. It updates definitions and contract rules in Conservation Stewardship and related programs, requires outreach and soil-testing payments to encourage soil-health improvements and carbon sequestration, and explicitly includes Tribal entities in planning and program participation. The changes are mainly programmatic and definitional (not new appropriations). They shift program priorities toward soil health and carbon sequestration, broaden eligible practices (including silvopasture, alley cropping, perennial forages and grain crops), and establish a Forest Service-based national agroforestry center in Lincoln, NE with additional regional centers and grant authority to support demonstrations and adoption.