The water rule proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers oversteps Con­­gressional authority and poses a significant threat to U.S. agriculture, despite efforts by the agencies to soft-pedal its effects, the American Farm Bureau Fed­eration (AFBF) said last week.

The rule, AFBF explained in a document sent to Congress, would give the EPA broad Clean Water Act jurisdiction over farmland and over normal farming practices, which have long been declared off-limits to regulators by Congress and the nation’s highest court.

"AFBF and several state Farm Bureaus have met with the EPA repeatedly, and each time, agency officials have declined to grapple with the serious, real world...