Wetlands are among our most productive and diverse habitat for fish and wildlife. They also help control floodwaters, recharge aquifers, and provide recreational opportunities. More than half of the wetlands that existed when America was first settled are gone. Many farmers have drained and planted them to crops.

The swampbuster provision -- introduced in the 1985 and continued in the 1990 Farm Bill -- is aimed at discouraging the altering of wetlands for agricultural purposes. If you drain, dredge, fill, level or otherwise alter wetlands to produce a crop or to make the production of an agricultural commodity possible, you will lose your eligibility for certain U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program benefits.

What are Wetlands?

Wetlands are made up of hydric soils that are covered by standing water or are saturated for long periods of the year to the extent that they support water-loving plants. The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) maintains a list of the kinds and combinations of soils and plants that define wetlands.

Do You Have Wetlands?

SCS employees determine if an area is a wetland by consulting maps or visiting the site.

USDA Programs Affected

With some exceptions, if you alter a wetland area to produce a crop or to make the production of an agricultural commodity possible, you lose eligibility for many USDA program benefits -- not only on the converted wetland area, but on all the land you farm.

Programs affected under the 1985 law were:

• Price and income supports
• Crop Insurance
• Farmers Home Administration loans
• Commodity Credit Corporation storage payments
• Farm storage facility loans
• Conservation Reserve Program annual payments
• Other programs under which USDA makes commodity-related payments

The 1990 law added these affected programs:

• Agricultural Conservation Program
• Conservation Reserve Program
• Disaster Assistance Acts, including Emergency Conservation Program
• PL-566 -- The Small Watershed Program (Loans and cost share)
• Great Plains Conservation Program
• Agricultural Water Quality Incentives Program

When you apply for any USDA farm program benefits, you must certify that you are not producing crops on land that has been converted from wetlands after December 23, 1985, and have not converted a wetland after November 28, 1990. >Exceptions

You are not subject to the swampbuster provision if you:

• Began the conversion of wetlands before December 23, 1985
• Converted wetlands that had been created artificially through irrigation, for example;
  • Produced crops on wetlands that became dry through natural conditions such as drought (other restrictions may apply);
  • Converted wetlands where SOS has determined that the conversion has minimal effect on wetland values.

In any year that you produce a crop on a converted wetland, you are ineligible for USDA farm program benefits the crop year the violation occurred. If you convert a wetland after November 28, 1990, you are ineligible for USDA benefits the year the conversion took place and subsequent years, until the wetland is fully restored to its original wetland characteristics.

If you need Help

For more information on swampbuster or for conservation planning assistance, contact the local office of SCS or Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS). SCS conservationists can tell you if you have wetlands or highly erodible fields, and help you prepare a conservation plan. Local conservation districts approve all plans. ASCS can provide information about the effects of swampbuster and other provisions on USDA farm assistance programs. All USDA staffs will be glad to help you work to remain qualified for farm program benefits.

All USDA programs and services are offered on a nondiscriminatory basis, without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, marital status, or handicap.