A bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to consider certain acreage not planted due to a lack of irrigation water to be eligible for prevented planting payments, and for other purposes.

This bill allows farmers to receive prevented planting payments from the USDA when they cannot plant crops due to a lack of irrigation water. To qualify, the farm must have functional irrigation infrastructure, a history of irrigating those acres in the past four years, and land that cannot support dry farming. The legislation also sets up a penalty system where payment amounts decrease by 50% for the fifth through eighth consecutive years of drought, 75% for the ninth and tenth years, and are completely eliminated starting in the eleventh year. Additionally, it requires the Secretary of Agriculture to update regulations to include drought at the water source as a valid cause for payment eligibility and to involve local committees in disaster determinations.