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.

This section expands eligibility for prevented planting payments under covered programs administered by the Farm Service Agency to include acreage that producers did not plant due to insufficient irrigation water, if the infrastructure is functional, the acres were irrigated and planted to the same crop in at least one of the prior four years, and the land does not support dryland farming. It reduces payments by 50 percent for the fifth through eighth consecutive crop years, 75 percent for the ninth and tenth years, and 100 percent thereafter, with permanent ineligibility after the eleventh year. It also directs the Secretary to revise regulations to treat drought at the irrigation source as a qualifying condition and to consult Farm Service Agency county committees and State technical committees when determining natural disasters.