SB 677

This bill creates a commercial nitrogen optimization pilot program, provides

crop insurance premium rebates for planting cover crops, and creates a new

hydrogeologist position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of

Extension.

Commercial nitrogen optimization pilot program

The bill requires the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer

Protection to create a commercial nitrogen optimization pilot program, under which

DATCP awards grants to farmers to implement a project, for at least two growing

seasons, that optimizes the application of commercial nitrogen. The farmer must

collaborate with a University of Wisconsin System institution to monitor grant

projects on-site. The institution may receive a grant for its monitoring requirements

under the bill.

Under the bill, a grant to a farmer and the eligible university entity

collaborating with the farmer may not exceed, in total, $50,000. No more than 20

percent of this total amount may be awarded to the collaborating university entity.

The bill requires DATCP to attempt to provide grants to farmers in different

parts of the state and to provide grants for projects in areas that have different soil

types or geologic characteristics. The bill requires DATCP to prioritize projects that

are innovative and that are not currently funded through existing state or federal

programs and to prioritize farmers who plan to implement projects for longer

periods. The bill also requires DATCP to collaborate with the farmer and the

university when awarding grants under the pilot program.

Under the bill, a farmer and the university collaborating with the farmer are

immune from civil liability and may not be subject to any remedial action or other

administrative or enforcement action from DATCP or the Department of Natural

Resources for any discharge of environmental pollution from the land involved in the

project, if the actions were taken in good faith and conformed to the project

specifications that were proposed in an application for a grant under the program.

Cover crop insurance premium rebates

In addition, the bill authorizes DATCP to cooperate with the Risk Management

Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide rebates in the amount of $5

per acre of a cover crop planted for crop insurance premiums paid for those acres.

Under the bill, DATCP determines the cover crops for which crop insurance premium

rebates are provided, and a person must plant cover crops before submitting an

application to DATCP for a crop insurance premium rebate. Also, under the bill, a

crop insurance premium rebate may not be provided for the planting of a cover crop

on an acre for which funding for planting a cover crop is available from a

producer-led watershed protection grant, the soil and water resource management

program, the federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or the federal

Conservation Stewardship Program.