Build Back Better Act: Agriculture and Forestry Provisions

December 7, 2021

Build Back Better Act: Agriculture and Forestry Provisions

Overview

Title I of the House-passed Build Back Better Act (BBBA,

H.R. 5376) would increase spending within the House

Agriculture Committee’s jurisdiction by $81.7 billion over

the 10-year period FY2022-FY2031 (Table 1). The

increase in spending, as estimated by the Congressional

Budget Office (CBO), is allowed under budget

reconciliation instructions provided in S.Con.Res. 14.

In the BBBA, forestry and agricultural conservation

programs each would receive about $27 billion to support

climate resilience and wildfire risk mitigation. Rural

development would receive about $18 billion, including

funding for rural electricity transition to clean energy,

biofuels infrastructure, and rural drinking water.

Economically distressed farm loan borrowers would receive

debt relief, estimated to add $7 billion to an existing $6

billion of debt relief enacted earlier in 2021. Agricultural

research programs would receive $2 billion, with half for

research facilities at universities and half split among an

assortment of research, extension, and education programs.

These amounts do not include $10 billion of increases in the

BBBA for child nutrition programs (Title II, Subtitle E) in

the jurisdiction of the House Education and Labor and

Senate Agriculture Committees. They also do not include

the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58),

such as $2.9 billion for rural broadband and agricultural

watersheds and $5.4 billion for the Forest Service.

Forestry

The BBBA would provide $27.15 billion in Subtitle B for

forestry research and forest protection, restoration, post-fire

recovery, and carbon management activities on federal and

nonfederal lands (for background, see CRS Report R46312,

Forest Carbon Primer). The funding would include $17.1

billion for management of the National Forest System

(NFS, administered by the Forest Service, is within the U.S.

Department of Agriculture [UDSA]), including funding for

hazardous fuel reduction and vegetation management; roads

and trails management; forest planning; and other activities.

The funding in Subtitle B would include $9.6 billion to

support grants and other financial assistance for nonfederal

forest management—including funding for urban and

community forestry—and grants supporting the

development and application of innovative wood products.

The funding in Subtitle B also would include $300 million

for forestry research to support activities related to forest

carbon monitoring and for conducting greenhouse gas life

cycle analyses of domestic wood products, among other

activities, and $200 million for administrative expenses.

Table 1. Agriculture in the Build Back Better Act

(budget authority in millions, FY2022-FY2031)

Subtitle of Title I (Agriculture)

Amount

Subtitle B - Forestry

National Forest System Restoration

17,100

Non-Federal Land Forest Restoration

6,000

State and Private Forestry Conservation

3,850

Administrative costs

Subtotal

200

27,150

Subtitle F – Conservation

Additions to farm bill programs

21,077

Soil Conservation Assistance

5,048

Conservation Technical Assistance

Subtotal

950

27,075

Subtitle C, Part 1 - Rural Development

Rural Electric Clean Energy Transition

9,700

Rural Energy for America; Biofuels

Infrastructure; and Rural Energy Savings

3,125

Electric Loans for Renewable Energy

2,880

Rural Water Assistance

1,067

Rural Partnership Program; Admin. Costs

1,523

Subtotal

18,295

Subtitle C, Part 2 - Agricultural Credit

Farm debt relief and loan modifications

11,676

Offset: rescinding debt relief in P.L. 117-2

-5,029

Assistance for underserved farmers

1,384

Offset: rescinding outreach in P.L. 117-2

-1,010

Subtotal

7,021

Subtitle D - Research, Urban Agriculture

Research Facilities Act, and other programs

2,000

Subtitle E – Miscellaneous

Farm and Food Worker Relief Grants, OIG

Total

205

81,746

Source: CRS, using CBO, “Estimated Budgetary Effects of Title I

(Agriculture), H.R. 5376 as modified by Rules Committee Print 11718,” Nov. 15, 2021, Rules Committee Print 117-18, and P.L. 117-2 .

https://crsreports.congress.gov

Build Back Better Act: Agriculture and Forestry Provisions

Notes: Sorted by amount and subtitle. Subtitle A is definitions only.

Conservation

The BBBA would provide over $21 billion in additional

funding for existing farm bill conservation programs, such

as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program ($9.0

billion), Conservation Stewardship Program ($4.1 billion),

Agricultural Conservation Easement Program ($1.7 billion),

and Regional Conservation Partnership Program ($7.5

billion). These programs provide financial and technical

assistance to private landowners to voluntarily implement

conservation practices on agricultural land (see CRS Report

R40763, Agricultural Conservation: A Guide to Programs).

Program funds would be directed to climate change-related

goals. Additional funding would be provided for

conservation technical assistance ($200 million), Regional

Climate Hub activities ($50 million), carbon sequestration

quantification programs ($600 million), and administrative

expenses ($100 million). The BBBA also would create a

new $5 billion soil conservation program that incentivizes

cover crop planting. Payments would be made to producers

and landowners for establishing one or more cover crops on

up to 1,000 acres annually through the 2026 crop year.

Rural Development and Energy

Rural Water

The BBBA would provide $970 million for grants to

support projects that replace service lines containing lead.

The USDA Water and Waste Disposal (WWD) Program

and the USDA WWD Grants to Alleviate Health Risks

Program would administer these grants. The BBBA would

provide $97 million in additional funding for grants for

water systems in persistent poverty counties, insular areas,

tribal areas, and colonias. The USDA WWD Program, the

USDA WWD Grants to Alleviate Health Risks Program,

and the USDA WWD Program for Alaskan Native Villages

would administer these grants.

Biofuels and Rural Energy Programs

The BBBA would provide over $15 billion for rural energy

and biofuel efforts. This would include $9.7 billion for a

new initiative, USDA Assistance for Rural Electric

Cooperatives, which would give financial assistance to

eligible entities for purchase of renewable energy,

renewable energy systems, and carbon capture and storage

systems or to make energy efficiency improvements, among

other things. The bill includes $2.9 billion for loans for

electricity storage projects and $2 billion for the Rural

Energy for America Program (REAP), $303 million of

which would be for underutilized renewable energy

technologies. REAP provides financial assistance for

renewable energy systems and energy efficiency

improvements. The BBBA also would provide $960 million

for grants for biofuel infrastructure projects (e.g., installing

fuel pumps that dispense certain biofuel blends).

Rural Business

The BBBA would provide $970 million to create the Rural

Prosperity Program, which would provide grants for rural

communities to enhance job growth and economic

resiliency. Within this program, $873 million would be for

Rural Prosperity Development Grants for states and tribal

governments, with higher amounts going to areas with

lower populations and lower income. Applicants would be

required to contribute a nonfederal match of 25%. The other

$97 million would be for Rural Prosperity Innovation

Grants for nonprofits and institutions of higher education

serving rural areas. Applicants would be required to

contribute a nonfederal match of 20% of the grant amount.

Agricultural Credit

The BBBA would replace the farm loan debt forgiveness

program in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA; P.L.

117-2), which the courts have blocked because the relief

was found to be race-based and not narrowly tailored to

meet a compelling state interest (see CRS Legal Sidebar

LSB10631, The American Rescue Plan Act: Equal

Protection Challenges). The BBBA provision is tailored to

economically distressed borrowers and does not appear to

be based on race. The CBO estimates that the BBBA plan

would provide $11.7 billion of debt reduction ($10.7 billion

for USDA direct loan debt forgiveness—either in full or up

to $150,000 per borrower to be reduced by coronavirus and

market facilitation program payments in 2018-2020—and

$1 billion of loan modifications to direct and guaranteed

farm loans). The BBBA would replace other ARPA

assistance for socially disadvantaged groups and reallocate

it with $1.4 billion for underserved farmers. These BBBA

provisions would add $7 billion to the $6 billion repurposed

from the ARPA after being rescinded and used as an offset.

Research and Urban Agriculture

The BBBA would provide $1 billion for competitive grants

for the construction or improvement of agricultural research

facilities at 1890 (historically Black) and 1994 (tribal) landgrant institutions, as well as certain other minority-serving

colleges and universities. It also would provide $855

million for climate-related agricultural research, education,

and extension under a variety of existing programs

(including, for the first time, $30 million for the Agriculture

Advanced Research and Development Authority; 7 U.S.C.

§3319k); $130 million for scholarship programs for

students at 1890 Institutions, tribal students, and

multicultural students; $10 million for the Office of Urban

Agriculture and Innovative Production (7 U.S.C. §6923);

and $5 million for the Census of Agriculture.

Farm and Food Worker Relief Grants

The BBBA would provide $200 million in additional

funding for the Farm and Food Worker Relief Grant

Program that was created with $665 million in the FY2021

appropriation (P.L. 116-260). These grants would provide

COVID-19 assistance to frontline grocery workers.

Oversight

The USDA Office of Inspector General would receive $5

million.

Jim Monke, Specialist in Agricultural Policy

Lisa S. Benson, Analyst in Agricultural Policy

Kelsi Bracmort, Specialist in Natural Resources and

Energy Policy

Genevieve K. Croft, Specialist in Agricultural Policy

Katie Hoover, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy

https://crsreports.congress.gov

Build Back Better Act: Agriculture and Forestry Provisions

IF11988

Megan Stubbs, Specialist in Agricultural Conservation and

Natural Resources Policy

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