This bill amends the Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act of 1977 to establish a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system for federal agricultural conservation programs. The legislation requires the Secretary of Agriculture to create a conservation effects assessment project to measure the environmental and economic impact of conservation practices across cropland, grazing land, wetlands, and forests. The bill also establishes specific natural resource objectives for four major conservation programs and creates a national technical committee, including farmers, agency representatives, and researchers, to oversee the monitoring process. The Secretary can spend up to one percent of annual conservation program funding for this assessment work and must report to Congress every two years on conservation outcomes and cost-effectiveness, starting three years after the bill's enactment. Farmers would have the option to voluntarily participate in on-farm monitoring activities, with potential compensation capped at the lesser of ten percent of their annual net income or two thousand dollars.
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