BUFFER Act
Key claim: Farmers could still enroll otherwise-eligible land in USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program and get payments even if a state, tribal, or local law already requires conservation practices, unless that requirement comes from a court or administrative order.
Abstract
(S4912 · 119th Congress) Building Up Farmland Frontiers for Ecological Resilience Act or the BUFFER Act This bill provides that certain land (that is under state regulations) is eligible to participate under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Under CRP, the Department of Agriculture provides annual payments to agricultural producers to take highly erodible and environmentally sensitive land out of production and install resource-conserving practices. Specifically, land otherwise eligible under the program remains eligible for enrollment even if a tribal, state, or other local law, ordinance, or other regulation requires any resource-conserving or environmental protection measure or practice. The bill includes an exception that makes the land ineligible under the program if the implementation requirement has been imposed by an administrative order or a court order. Current regulations exclude from enrollment eligibility (with exceptions) land that is subject to tribal, state, or other local laws, ordinances, or other regulations that require any resource-conserving or environmental protection measures or practices. Latest action (2026-06-24): Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Why this matters
CRP payments are a major federal conservation transfer to landowners, and eligibility rules determine whether farmers in states or tribal jurisdictions with their own conservation mandates can still capture those payments. The BUFFER Act narrows a source of ineligibility, potentially expanding enrolled acres in jurisdictions with active conservation regulation while preserving the exclusion for court- or agency-ordered compliance.