AN ACT to preserve farmland and water qUALITY by enacting a crop insurance payment subsidy program for farmers who establish cover crops.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  The sum of one million seven hundred fifty thousand dollars ($1,750,000) in recurring funds is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to establish and fund a program within the Department's Division of Soil and Water Conservation to provide a subsidy of five dollars ($5.00) per acre to crop insurance premium payments for farmers who plant cover crops. Funding under the program would be limited to farmers that meet both of the following criteria:

(1)        The establishment of the cover crop complies with best practices for establishment of cover crops established by the Division.

(2)        The acreage enrolled in the program is not a part of any other federal conservation program.

SECTION 1.(b)  The Department shall consult with a working group of farmers, agricultural organizations, and conservation organizations in implementing the cover crop payment subsidy established by this section.

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2022.