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<br />f <br /> <br />t <br /> <br />WETLANDS PROTECTION AND AGRICULTURE <br />Roger Mitchell, Vice-Presldent, Colorado Farm Bureau <br />July 23, 1991 <br />Colorado Water Workshop <br />The Swampbuster provision of the Food Security Act of 1985 is <br /> <br />aimed at discouraging the conversion of wetland for agricultural <br /> <br />purposes. <br /> <br />With some exceptions, if you convert a wetland area to <br /> <br />cropland, yOu lose eligibility for certain USDA program benefits- <br /> <br />not just on the converted wetland area, but on all the land you <br /> <br />-farm. <br /> <br />Therefore, required wetland classification is not only a <br /> <br />legal 1ssue for the agriculture industry but an issue of continued <br /> <br />uncertainty for the food producers of this reg10n. <br /> <br />I would therefore, like to continue my topic and relate to you <br /> <br />the following background information as it pertains to the "Wetland <br /> <br />Classification Act". <br /> <br />Wetland-areas that have a predominance of hydric soils that are <br /> <br />inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and <br /> <br />duration sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances do <br /> <br />support, a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation typically adapted <br /> <br />for life in saturated soil conditions. <br /> <br />Farmed Wetland-certain wetlands that were manipulated and used to <br /> <br />produce an agricultural commodity prior to December 23, 1985, but <br /> <br />had not been completely converted prior to that date and therefore <br /> <br />are not prior converted cropland. <br /> <br />Prior Converted Cropland-can be either a pothole or a ponded or <br /> <br />flooded area that was completely drained and no longer meets <br /> <br />wetland criteria. <br />