The Secretary of Agriculture (hereafter in this section referred to as the "Secretary") shall, by regulation, establish a voluntary program, to be known as the "Integrated Farm Management Program Option" (hereafter referred to in this section as the "program"), designed to assist producers of agricultural commodities in adopting integrated, multiyear, site-specific farm management plans by reducing farm program barriers to resource stewardship practices and systems.
For purposes of this section—
(A) The term "resource-conserving crop" means legumes, legume-grass mixtures, legume-small grain mixtures, legume-grass-small grain mixtures, and alternative crops.
(B) The term "resource-conserving crop rotation" means a crop rotation that includes at least one resource-conserving crop and that reduces erosion, maintains or improves soil fertility and tilth, interrupts pest cycles, or conserves water.
(C) The term "farming operations and practices" includes the integration of crops and crop-plant variety selection, rotation practices, tillage systems, soil conserving and soil building practices, nutrient management strategies, biological control and integrated pest management strategies, livestock production and management systems, animal waste management systems, water and energy conservation measures, and health and safety considerations.
(D) The term "integrated farm management plan" means a comprehensive, multiyear, site-specific plan that meets the requirements of subsection (f) of this section.
For purposes of paragraph (1)(A)—
(A) The term "grass" means perennial grasses commonly used for haying or grazing.
(B) The term "legume" means forage legumes (such as alfalfa or clover) or any legume grown for use as a forage or green manure, but not including any bean crop from which the seeds are harvested.
(C) The term "small grain" shall not include malting barley or wheat, except for wheat interplanted with other small grain crops for nonhuman consumption.
(D) The term "alternative crops" means experimental and industrial crops grown in arid and semiarid regions that conserve soil and water.
To be eligible to participate in the program established by this section, a producer must—
(1) prepare and submit to the Secretary for approval an integrated farm management plan (hereafter referred to in this section as the "plan");
(2) actively apply the terms and conditions of the plan, as approved by the Secretary;
(3) devote to a resource-conserving crop, on the average through the life of the contract, not less than 20 percent of the crop acreage bases enrolled under such program;
(4) comply with the terms and conditions of any annual acreage limitation program in effect for the crop acreage bases contracted under the terms of this subsection; and
(5) keep such records as the Secretary may reasonably require.
In accepting contracts for the program, the Secretary, to the extent practicable, shall enroll not less than 3,000,000, nor more than 5,000,000, acres of cropland in each of the calendar years 1991 through 1995.
The Secretary shall enter into contracts with producers to enroll acreage in the program. Such contracts shall be for a period of not less than 3 years, but may, at the producer's option, be for a longer period of time (up to 5 years) and may be renewed upon mutual agreement between the Secretary and the producer.
Each plan approved by the Secretary shall—
(1) specify the acreage and the crop acreage bases to be enrolled in the program;
(2) describe the resource-conserving crop rotation to be implemented and maintained on such acreage during the contract period to fulfill the purposes of the program;
(3) contain a schedule for the implementation, improvement and maintenance of the resource-conserving crop rotation described in the plan;
(4) describe the farming operations and practices to be implemented on such acreage and how such operations and practices could reasonably be expected to result in—
(A) the maintenance or enhancement of the overall productivity and profitability of the farm;
(B) the prevention of the degradation of farmland soils, the long-term improvement of the fertility and physical properties of such soils; and
(C) the protection of water supplies from contamination by managing or minimizing agricultural pollutants if their management or minimization results in positive economic and environmental benefits;
(5) assist the producer to comply with all Federal, State, and local requirements designed to protect soil, wetland, wildlife habitat, and the quality of groundwater and surface water; and
(6) contain such other terms as the Secretary may, by regulation, require.
The program shall be administered by the Secretary.
In administering the program, the Secretary, in consultation with the local conservation districts, and any State or local authorities deemed appropriate by the Secretary, shall provide technical assistance to producers in developing and implementing plans, evaluating the effectiveness of plans, and assessing the costs and benefits of farming operations and practices. The plans may draw on handbooks and technical guides and may also include other practices appropriate to the particular circumstances of the producer and the purposes of the program.
In administering the program, the Secretary shall provide sufficient flexibility for a producer to adjust or modify the producer's plan consistent with this section, except that such adjustments or modifications must be approved by the Secretary.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the Secretary shall implement this section in such a manner as to minimize any adverse economic effect on the agribusinesses and other agriculturally related economic interests within any county, State, or region that may result from a decrease of harvested acres due to the operation of this section. In carrying out this section, the Secretary may restrict the total amount of crop acreage that may be removed from production, taking into consideration the total amount of crop acreage that has, or will be, removed from production under other price support, production adjustment, or conservation program activities.
The Secretary shall, to the greatest extent practicable, permit producers on a farm that desire to participate in the program authorized under this section to enroll acreage adequate to maximize conservation goals on such farm and ensure economic effectiveness of the program in each individual application.
The Secretary shall not approve any plan that will result in the involuntary displacement of farm tenants or lessees by landowners through the removal of substantial portions of the farm from production of a commodity. In the case of any tenant or lessee who has rented or leased the farm (with or without a written option for annual renewal or periodic renewals) for a period of two or more of the immediately preceding years, the Secretary shall consider the refusal by a landlord, without reasonable cause other than simply for the purpose of enrollment in the program, to renew such rental or lease as an involuntary displacement in the absence of a written consent to such nonrenewal by the tenant or lessee.
The Secretary shall certify compliance by producers with the terms and conditions of the plans.
The Secretary may terminate a contract entered into with a producer under this program if—
(A) the producer agrees to such termination, or
(B) the producer violates the terms and conditions of such contract.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary shall not, except as provided in paragraph (6), reduce crop acreage bases, or farm program payment yields, as a result of the planting of a resource-conserving crop as part of a resource-conserving crop rotation.
Notwithstanding the provisions of title I of the Agricultural Act of 1949 [7 U.S.C. 1441 et seq.], acreage devoted to resource-conserving crops as part of a resource-conserving crop rotation under this program may also be designated as conservation use acreage for the purpose of fulfilling any provisions under any acreage limitation or land diversion program and up to 50 percent of the acreage so designated shall be without restrictions on haying and grazing, except as provided in paragraph (5)(B), except that such acreage that is devoted to perennial cover on which cost-share assistance for the establishment of the perennial cover has been provided, shall not be credited towards the producer's resource-conserving crop requirement under a contract under this section.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, barley, oats, or wheat planted as part of a resource-conserving crop on reduced acreage may not be harvested in kernel form.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the Secretary shall not reduce farm program payments of participants in this program as a result of the planting a resource-conserving crop as part of a resource-conserving crop rotation on payment acres.
The Secretary shall not make any program payments to a producer who is otherwise eligible to receive with respect to acreage enrolled in the program if such producer hays or grazes such acreage (excluding acreage designated as conservation use acreage) during the 5-month period in each State during which haying and grazing of conserving use acres is not allowed under the provisions of the Agricultural Act of 1949 [7 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.], or, if the crop planted on such acreage includes a small grain, before the producer harvests the small grain crop in kernel form.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, if the Secretary determines that implementation of this section will result in a significant adverse economic impact on hay or livestock prices in a particular geographic area, the Secretary may limit the quantity of hay that can be harvested or grazed from that area. Such limit may include restrictions on the number of times that hay may be harvested or grazed from the acres per year, the timing of such harvesting and grazing, or the number of years that such land may remain in the same hay stand, or a prohibition on the harvesting or grazing of hay from acres on which a small grain was not originally interplanted with the hay crop and harvested for grain.
The Secretary, only for the purpose of establishing a producer's crop acreage base under the Agricultural Act of 1949 [7 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.], may make such adjustments as the Secretary determines to be fair and equitable to reflect resource-conserving crop rotation practices that were maintained by producers prior to participation in the program and to reflect such other factors as the Secretary determines should be considered, except that the total of such adjustments in any year shall not exceed the total farm program savings in the same year that would result from the implementation of plans.
No producers enrolled in a resource-conserving crop rotation shall be eligible to receive payments under farm programs for wheat, feed grains, cotton, or rice under the Agricultural Act of 1949 [7 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.] on acreage equal to the average number of traditionally underplanted acres for the three years prior to enrolling in this program.
Subject to clause (ii), for the purposes of this paragraph the term "traditionally underplanted acreage" means the difference in a particular year between the acreage that is part of a producer's crop acreage base that is not planted to the program crop and the part of the crop acreage base subject to an acreage limitation program or required to be set aside, but only to the extent that such number exceeds the number of acres resulting from the reduction in payment acres under an amendment made by section 1101 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–508; 104 Stat. 1388–1). In no case shall such acreage be less than zero.
In the case of a producer participating in a particular year in a program authorized under section 101B(c)(1)(D), 103B(c)(1)(D), 105B(c)(1)(E), or 107B(c)(1)(E) 1 of the Agricultural Act of 1949, the term "traditionally underplanted acreage" means 8 percent of the producer's permitted acreage for such year.
(Pub. L. 101–624, title XIV, §1451, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 3607; Pub. L. 101–508, title I, §1204(a), Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1388–11; Pub. L. 102–237, title II, §201(a), Dec. 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 1846.)
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Last modified: October 26, 2015