H.R. 1854 — Climate Agricultural Conservation Practices Act

This section revises requirements under the technical assistance provisions for reviewing and updating conservation practice standards (16 U.S.C. 3842(h)), as follows: (1) extends the deadline in paragraph (1)(A) to 5 years after enactment of the Climate Agricultural Conservation Practices Act (from 1 year after enactment of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018); (2) adds to paragraph (1) a requirement to evaluate the climate benefits of the standards; (3) inserts "climate benefits" in paragraph (3)(B), ahead of "conservation innovations"; and (4) adds paragraph (5) defining "climate benefit" to mean a reduction in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, an increase in carbon sequestration, or mitigation against or adaptation to increased weather volatility. (Conservation practice standards are science- and site-specific criteria established by the Natural Resources Conservation Service for practices funded through programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.)