Bill > HR5551

This bill amends the Agricultural Act of 2014 to establish a mandatory, one-time update of base acres for covered agricultural commodities, ensuring that the acres more accurately reflect recent planting history. Specifically, the bill requires the Secretary of Agriculture to update base acres for the 2025 crop year by calculating a 5-year average (2020-2024) of acreage planted to covered commodities, including acres that were prevented from being planted due to natural disasters or other uncontrollable circumstances. The update allows farm owners to elect which commodity to use in calculating the average if an acre was used for multiple commodities in the same crop year. The bill removes references to "generic base acres" and makes several technical conforming amendments to related sections of agricultural law. This update aims to provide farmers with a more current and representative basis for agricultural support programs by using recent planting data instead of potentially outdated historical information, potentially helping farmers better reflect their actual agricultural production in support calculations.

Agriculture and Natural Resources

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5551/all-info