# 119-s-4862: A bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to consider certain acreage not planted due to a lack of irrigation water to be eligible for prevented planting payments, and for other purposes.

119-s-4862, A bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to consider certain acreage not planted due to a lack of irrigation water to be eligible for prevented planting payments, and for other purposes., is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] (D-CO); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-01).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4862
- As of: 2026-10-01
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-4862
- Congress: 119
- Title: A bill to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to consider certain acreage not planted due to a lack of irrigation water to be eligible for prevented planting payments, and for other purposes.
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-06-23
- Sponsor: Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO] (D-CO)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Agriculture and Food
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-01

## Summary

**This bill would treat acreage not planted because of a lack of irrigation water as "prevented planting" under farm programs.** It would also phase in payment reductions for repeated years without irrigation and require regulatory changes to count source-level drought and add local consultation in disaster decisions. - Farmers and producers: Would let a producer claim prevented planting if they skipped planting due to a reasonable expectation of insufficient irrigation water, the irrigation system is installed and functional, the acres were irrigated in at least one of the past four crop years, the same crop was planted in at least one of those years, and the land cannot support dryland farming for that crop. - Payments and eligibility: Would cut payments for consecutive prevented-planting years, phasing to 50 percent, then 75 percent, and eventually to full loss of payments with permanent ineligibility for acreage hit by the final stage. - USDA program rules and disaster decisions: Would direct changes to 7 CFR 718.103 to treat lack of water at the irrigation source as prevented planting and to require the Commodity Credit Corporation to consult Farm Service Agency county committees and State technical committees when determining natural disasters.

## Provisions PRIA read

- New irrigation prevented-planting rule: benefit, medium. If enacted, the bill would let farmers count acres as "prevented planting" when they did not plant because they reasonably expected insufficient irrigation water. To qualify, irrigation infrastructure must be installed and working, the acres must have been irrigated in one or more of the previous f…
- Cuts to prevented-planting payments: cost, high. If enacted, the bill would reduce prevented planting payments for acreage the Secretary counts as prevented because of lack of irrigation water. Payments for the 5th through 8th consecutive prevented crop years would be cut by 50 percent, for the 9th and 10th years by 75 percent, and for the 11th y…

## Related bills

- 119-s-2120: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2025
- 119-s-5071: Children's Safe Welcome Act of 2026
- 119-s-5022: Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act
- 119-s-5283: Momnibus Act
- 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026
- 119-s-2823: FAMILY Act

## Sources
- [119-s-4862 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4862)

## Related
- [119-s-2120: Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2120)
- [119-s-5071: Children's Safe Welcome Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5071)
- [119-s-5022: Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5022)
- [119-s-5283: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-5283)
- [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990)
- [119-s-2823: FAMILY Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2823)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4862 (as of 2026-10-01).