Sodbuster was a program created by Title 12 of the

Food Security Act of 1985 The Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99–198, also known as the 1985 U.S. Farm Bill), a 5-year omnibus farm bill, allowed lower commodity price and income supports and established a dairy herd buyout program. This 1985 farm bill made changes in ...

designed to discourage the plowing up of erosion-prone grasslands for use as cropland. If such is used for crop production without proper conservation measures as laid out in a conservation plan, a producer may lose eligibility to participate in farm programs. In the

1990 Farm Bill The Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade (FACT) Act of 1990 — P.L. 101-624 (November 28, 1990) was a 5-year omnibus farm bill that passed Congress and was signed into law. This bill, also known as the 1990 farm bill, continued to move ag ...

, it was amended and became the super sodbuster, such that producers became ineligible for specified farm program benefits on all their land if they cultivated

highly erodible land In United States agricultural policy, Highly erodible land (HEL) refers to land that is very susceptible to erosion, including fields that have at least 1/3 or of soils with a natural erosion potential of at least 8 times their T value. About of ...

that was idle. The super sodbuster was repealed by the

1996 Farm Bill The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-127), known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S. Farm Bill, was the omnibus 1996 farm bill that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies ...

References

* Law of the United States Nature conservation in the United States Soil in the United States {{agriculture-stub