§3832. Duties of owners and operators

(a) Terms of contract

Under the terms of a contract entered into under this subpart, during the term of such contract, an owner or operator of a farm or ranch must agree-

(1) to implement a plan approved by the local conservation district (or in an area not located within a conservation district, a plan approved by the Secretary) for converting eligible lands normally devoted to the production of an agricultural commodity on the farm or ranch to a less intensive use (as defined by the Secretary), such as pasture, permanent grass, legumes, forbs, shrubs, or trees, substantially in accordance with a schedule outlined in the plan;

(2) to place highly erodible cropland subject to the contract in the conservation reserve established under this subpart;

(3) not to use such land for agricultural purposes, except as permitted by the Secretary;

(4) to establish approved vegetative cover, or water cover for the enhancement of wildlife, on such land, except that-

(A) such water cover shall not include ponds for the purpose of watering livestock, irrigating crops, or raising fish for commercial purposes; and

(B) the Secretary shall not terminate the contract for failure to establish approved vegetative or water cover on the land if-

(i) the failure to plant such cover was due to excessive rainfall or flooding;

(ii) the land subject to the contract that could practicably be planted to such cover is planted to such cover; and

(iii) the land on which the owner or operator was unable to plant such cover is planted to such cover after the wet conditions that prevented the planting subsides;

(5) in addition to the remedies provided under section 3836(d) of this title, on the violation of a term or condition of the contract at any time the owner or operator has control of such land-

(A) to forfeit all rights to receive rental payments and cost sharing payments under the contract and to refund to the Secretary any rental payments and cost sharing payments received by the owner or operator under the contract, together with interest thereon as determined by the Secretary, if the Secretary, after considering the recommendations of the soil conservation district and the Soil Conservation Service, determines that such violation is of such nature as to warrant termination of the contract; or

(B) to refund to the Secretary, or accept adjustments to, the rental payments and cost sharing payments provided to the owner or operator, as the Secretary considers appropriate, if the Secretary determines that such violation does not warrant termination of the contract;

(6) on the transfer of the right and interest of the owner or operator in land subject to the contract-

(A) to forfeit all rights to rental payments and cost sharing payments under the contract; and

(B) to refund to the United States all rental payments and cost sharing payments received by the owner or operator, or accept such payment adjustments or make such refunds as the Secretary considers appropriate and consistent with the objectives of this subpart;

unless the transferee of such land agrees with the Secretary to assume all obligations of the contract, or the transferee and the Secretary agree to modifications to such contract, where such modifications are consistent with the objectives of the program as determined by the Secretary; Provided however, no refund of rental payments and cost sharing payments shall be required when the land is purchased by or for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service;

(7) not to conduct any harvesting or grazing, nor otherwise make commercial use of the forage, on land that is subject to the contract, nor adopt any similar practice specified in the contract by the Secretary as a practice that would tend to defeat the purposes of the contract, except that the Secretary-

(A) may permit-

(i) harvesting or grazing or other commercial use of the forage on land that is subject to the contract in response to a drought or other similar emergency; and

(ii) limited grazing on such land where such grazing is incidental to the gleaning of crop residues on the fields in which such land is located and occurs-

(I) in the case of land other than eligible acreage enrolled under section 3831(h) of this title, during the 7-month period in which grazing of conserving use acreage is allowed in a State under the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.) or after the producer harvests the grain crop of the surrounding field for a reduction in rental payment commensurate with the limited economic value of such incidental grazing; and

(II) in the case of eligible acreage enrolled under section 3831(h) of this title, at any time other than during the period beginning May 1 and ending August 1 of each year for a reduction in rental payment commensurate with the limited economic value of such incidental grazing; and

(B) shall approve not more than six projects, no more than one of which may be in any State, under which land subject to the contract may be harvested for recovery of biomass used in energy production if-

(i) no acreage subject to the contract is harvested more than once every other year;

(ii) not more than 25 percent of the total acreage enrolled in the program under this subpart in any crop reporting district (as designated by the Secretary), is harvested in any 1 year;

(iii) no portion of the crop is used for any commercial purpose other than energy production from biomass;

(iv) no wetland, or acreage of any type enrolled in a partial field conservation practice (including riparian forest buffers, filter strips, and buffer strips), is harvested;

(v) the owner or operator agrees to a payment reduction under this section in an amount determined by the Secretary.

(C) the total acres for all of the projects shall not exceed 250,000 acres.

(8) not to conduct any planting of trees on land that is subject to the contract unless the contract specifies that the harvesting and commercial sale of trees such as Christmas trees are prohibited, nor otherwise make commercial use of trees on land that is subject to the contract unless it is expressly permitted in the contract, nor adopt any similar practice specified in the contract by the Secretary as a practice that would tend to defeat the purposes of the contract, except that no contract shall prohibit activities consistent with customary forestry practice, such as pruning, thinning, or stand improvement of trees, on lands converted to forestry use;

(9) not to adopt any practice specified by the Secretary in the contract as a practice that would tend to defeat the purposes of this subpart; and

(10) to comply with such additional provisions as the Secretary determines are desirable and are included in the contract to carry out this subpart or to facilitate the practical administration thereof.

(b) Conversion plan provisions

The plan referred to in subsection (a)(1) of this section-

(1) shall set forth-

(A) the conservation measures and practices to be carried out by the owner or operator during the term of the contract; and

(B) the commercial use, if any, to be permitted on the land during such term; and

(2) may provide for the permanent retirement of any existing cropland base and allotment history for the land.

(c) Environmental use

To the extent practicable, not less than one-eighth of land that is placed in the conservation reserve under this subpart during the 1991 through 2002 calendar years shall be devoted to trees, or devoted to shrubs or other noncrop vegetation or water that may provide a permanent habitat for wildlife including migratory waterfowl.

(d) Alley cropping

(1) The Secretary may permit alley cropping of agricultural commodities on land that is subject to contracts entered into under this subpart, if-

(A) such land is planted to hardwood trees;

(B) such agricultural commodities will be produced in conjunction with, and in close proximity to, such hardwood trees; and

(C) the owner or operator of such land agrees to implement appropriate conservation practices concerning such land.

(2) The Secretary shall develop a bid system by which owners and operators may offer to reduce their annual rental payments in exchange for permission to produce agricultural commodities on such land in accordance with this subsection. The Secretary shall not accept offers under this paragraph that provide for less than a 50 percent reduction in such annual payments.

(3) The Secretary shall ensure that the total annual rental payments over the term of any contract modified under this subsection are not in excess of that specified in the original contract.

(4) For the purposes of this subsection, the term "alley cropping" means the practice of planting rows of trees bordered on each side by a narrow strip of groundcover, alternated with wider strips of row crops or grain.

(e) Foreclosure

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an owner or operator who is a party to a contract entered into under this subpart may not be required to make repayments to the Secretary of amounts received under such contract if the land that is subject to such contract has been foreclosed upon and the Secretary determines that forgiving such repayments is appropriate in order to provide fair and equitable treatment. This subsection shall not void the responsibilities of such an owner or operator under the contract if such owner or operator resumes control over the property that is subject to the contract within the period specified in the contract. Upon the resumption of such control over the property by the owner or operator, the provisions of the contract in effect on the date of the foreclosure shall apply.

( Pub. L. 99–198, title XII, §1232, Dec. 23, 1985, 99 Stat. 1509 ; Pub. L. 101–512, title I, Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1919 ; Pub. L. 101–624, title XIV, §§1433, 1447(a), Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 3579 , 3605; Pub. L. 102–237, title II, §204(5), Dec. 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 1855 ; Pub. L. 102–552, title V, §516(a), Oct. 28, 1992, 106 Stat. 4136 ; Pub. L. 104–127, title III, §332(a)(2), Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 994 ; Pub. L. 106–78, title VII, §§763, 769, Oct. 22, 1999, 113 Stat. 1173 , 1174; Pub. L. 106–387, §1(a) [title VIII, §817, title XI, §1103], Oct. 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 1549 , 1549A-58, 1549A-77.)

References in Text

The Agricultural Act of 1949, referred to in subsec. (a)(7), is act Oct. 31, 1949, ch. 792, 63 Stat. 1051 , as amended, which is classified principally to chapter 35A (§1421 et seq.) of Title 7, Agriculture. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1421 of Title 7 and Tables.

Codification

Pub. L. 101–512 and Pub. L. 101–624 were approved by the President after Congress adjourned and in reverse order of passage by Congress. Accordingly, the amendments made by Pub. L. 101–624 were executed to text prior to the amendment made by Pub. L. 101–512 to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

Amendments

2000-Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 106–387, §1(a) [title VIII, §817], substituted "except that-" for "except that", inserted "(A)" before "such water", inserted "and" at end, and added subpar. (B).

Subsec. (a)(7)(A)(ii). Pub. L. 106–387, §1(a) [title XI, §1103], substituted "occurs-" for "occurs during", inserted "(I) in the case of land other than eligible acreage enrolled under section 3831(h) of this title, during" before "the 7-month period", and added subcl. (II).

1999-Subsec. (a)(7). Pub. L. 106–78, §769, designated portion of existing provisions as subpar. (A) and cls. (i) and (ii), and added subpar. (B).

Subsec. (a)(9) to (11). Pub. L. 106–78, §763, inserted "and" at end of par. (9), substituted a period for "; and" at end of par. (10), and struck out par. (11) which read as follows: "with respect to any contract entered into after November 28, 1990, concerning highly erodible land in a county that has not reached the limitation established by section 3843(f) of this title-

"(A) not to produce an agricultural commodity for the duration of the contract on any other highly erodible land that such owner or operator has purchased after November 28, 1990, and that does not have a history of being used to produce an agricultural commodity other than forage crops; and

"(B) on the violation of a contract described in subparagraph (A), to be subject to the sanctions described in paragraph (5)."

1996-Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 104–127 substituted "2002" for "1995".

1992-Subsec. (a)(6). Pub. L. 102–552 made technical correction to directory language of Pub. L. 101–512. See 1991 Amendment note below.

1991-Subsec. (a)(6). Pub. L. 102–237, §204(5)(A), struck out extra semicolon after "determined by the Secretary;".

Subsec. (a)(7). Pub. L. 102–237, §204(5)(B), struck out "fall and winter" after "Secretary may permit limited" and substituted "and occurs during the 7-month period in which grazing of conserving use acreage is allowed in a State under the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.) or after the producer harvests the grain crop of the surrounding field for a reduction in rental payment commensurate with the limited economic value of such incidental grazing" for "for an applicable reduction in rental payment".

1990-Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 101–624, §1447(a), substituted reference to this subpart for reference to this subchapter wherever appearing.

Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 101–624, §1433(a)(1), substituted "eligible lands" for "highly erodible cropland".

Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 101–624, §1433(a)(2), inserted ", or water cover for the enhancement of wildlife," after "cover" and ", except that such water cover shall not include ponds for the purpose of watering livestock, irrigating crops, or raising fish for commercial purposes" after "land".

Subsec. (a)(5). Pub. L. 101–624, §1433(a)(3), inserted reference to remedies under section 3836(d) of this title.

Subsec. (a)(6). Pub. L. 101–624, §1433(a)(4), inserted before semicolon at end ", or the transferee and the Secretary agree to modifications to such contract, where such modifications are consistent with the objectives of the program as determined by the Secretary;". See Codification note above.

Pub. L. 101–512, as amended by Pub. L. 102–552, inserted at end "Provided however, no refund of rental payments and cost sharing payments shall be required when the land is purchased by or for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service;". See Codification note above.

Subsec. (a)(7). Pub. L. 101–624, §1433(a)(5), inserted before semicolon at end ", and the Secretary may permit limited fall and winter grazing on such land where such grazing is incidental to the gleaning of crop residues on the fields in which such land is located for an applicable reduction in rental payment".

Subsec. (a)(11). Pub. L. 101–624, §1433(a)(6)–(8), added par. (11).

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101–624, §1433(b), added subsec. (c) and struck out former subsec. (c) which read as follows: "To the extent practicable, not less than one eighth of the number of acres of land that is placed in the conservation reserve under this subpart in each of the 1986 through 1990 crop years shall be devoted to trees."

Pub. L. 101–624, §1447(a), substituted "this subpart" for "this subchapter" in subsec. (c) as it existed prior to enactment of Pub. L. 101–624.

Subsecs. (d), (e). Pub. L. 101–624, §1433(b), added subsecs. (d) and (e).

Section Referred to in Other Sections

This section is referred to in sections 3831, 3833 of this title.