Progress for Colorado in the 2018 Farm Bill

Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry
and Natural Resources, secured several bills and amendments important to Colorado in the
bipartisan Farm Bill. The following 20 Bennet-led priorities were included in the Agriculture
Improvement Act of 2018 (S. 3042).

Protecting Our Forests

• Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program: extends support and doubles funding for
collaborative, community-based forest management, which has a proven record of success.

• Flexible Partnerships Act: provides rural communities an avenue to engage with the U.S. Forest
Service to address housing, infrastructure, and other needs.

• Small Tracts Act: expands the Forest Service’s authority to sell small parcels to protect other
high-priority lands and improve land management.

• National Forest Foundation: reauthorizes the National Forest Foundation (NFF) through 2023.
The NFF supports Colorado conservation and stewardship projects and is a key partner in
maintaining our National Forests.

• Wildfire Protection: creates a pilot program to protect utility infrastructure from passing
wildfires by encouraging vegetation management on Forest Service land.

• Watershed and Forest Health: includes a new Water Source Protection Program to support
innovative forest health partnerships; directs the Forest Service to evaluate the condition of
our watersheds, prioritize forest restoration efforts, and monitor their effectiveness.

Promoting Conservation

• Soil Health: emphasizes soil health across the conservation title and establishes an EQIP pilot
program to improve soil health, ensuring the pilot program will occur in at least one drought-
prone region.

• Healthy Habitat and Rangelands: improves access to conservation planning and rewards
grazing practices that promote drought resilience, wildfire management, and wildlife habitat.
• Outdoor Recreation: reauthorizes and maintains funding for programs that provide access to
hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation and improves wildlife habitat on private lands.

• Drought Resilience: eliminates duplicative planning requirements and provides greater

flexibility for off-farm water infrastructure projects that improve drought resilience.

• Conservation for Small-Scale Farmers: allows the USDA to create a pilot program to improve
the delivery of conservation funding to small-scale producers.

Supporting Rural Economies

• Hemp Agriculture: legalizes hemp as an agriculture commodity, providing certainty and

economic opportunity for growers, including the ability to access crop insurance and federal
funding.

• Rural Broadband: provides loans, loan guarantees, and grants to improve broadband service in
high-need rural areas.

• Farmer and Rancher Stress: reauthorizes the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network to
assist states and nonprofits that establish helplines, suicide prevention training, and support
groups.

• Data for Disaster Programs: improves the data used for drought monitoring, which determines
USDA disaster assistance across the West; requires the USDA to consult with the bison
industry to use the best available market value data for the Livestock Indemnity Program.

• Food Waste: Requires a study to identify the cost and volume of domestic and imported fresh
food waste and opportunities to reduce waste and improve farm income.

Improving Energy Options

• Energy Storage: makes energy storage technologies eligible for USDA Rural Energy for
American Program funding and financing.

• Clean Energy: promotes biogas and carbon utilization technologies in rural communities.

• Cyber and Grid Security: ensures cybersecurity and grid improvement projects are eligible for
USDA Rural Utility Service loans.

A copy of the 2018 Senate Farm Bill is available at www.agriculture.senate.gov/2018-farm-bill.