A long-anticipated farm bill conference agreement approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama this month includes an AMWA-supported Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) that will help water and wastewater utilities partner with local farmers on projects to benefit regional water quality and quantity.
The conference agreement (formally known as H.R. 2642, the “Agricultural Act”) follows months of work by lawmakers to develop a compromise farm bill reauthorization. Proposed cuts to federal food stamps had been a notable stumbling block during negotiations, but the rest of the compromise bill quickly fell into place once that issue was resolved.
The RCPP was not a divisive issue, as the House and Senate had each earlier voted to consolidate a number of existing conservation activities into this new streamlined program. One of the consolidated programs, the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) offered USDA grant assistance to local farmers that partner with nearby communities and other stakeholders on cooperative projects to protect or improve water quality and quantity. The new RCPP will continue eligibility for these objectives (along with habitat conservation, air quality improvement, irrigation system improvement, and others) and will receive $100 million per year in funding.
The new RCPP also includes several improvements sought by AMWA and other water sector stakeholders. For example, H.R. 2642 specifically lists water and wastewater utilities as entities eligible to partner with farmers on RCPP projects (the previous AWEP extended eligibility to “units of local government,” which was interpreted to include public water systems). Additionally, the new program allows funding for “nutrient management and sediment reduction” projects. This is important because nutrient runoff from farms represents one of the most significant threats to nearby water quality.
H.R. 2642 authorizes the RCPP and other USDA programs through the 2018 fiscal year. President Obama signed the measure into law on February 7.