Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it is improving the process in how it makes wetland determinations, updating guidance to improve consistency and timeliness as well as to responding to feedback from farmers and other stakeholders. The updates do not change the definition of a wetland for USDA program participation purposes, but rather provides greater clarity and uniformity in how NRCS makes determinations.
On December 7th, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) posted this updated guidance in the Federal Register as an interim final rule, and are accepting comments on this rule through Feb. 5, 2019.
Wetland determinations are part of conservation compliance outlined in the Farm Bill. To be eligible for USDA programs and federal crop insurance, producers must be compliant.
To learn more and see the updates to the conservation compliance provisions click here.