subpart b - conservation stewardship program

16 USC 3838d - Definitions

In this subpart:

(1) Conservation activities

(A) In general
The term conservation activities means conservation systems, practices, or management measures that are designed to address a resource concern.

(B) Inclusions
The term conservation activities includes

(i) structural measures, vegetative measures, and land management measures, including agriculture drainage management systems, as determined by the Secretary; and

(ii) planning needed to address a resource concern.

(2) Conservation measurement tools
The term conservation measurement tools means procedures to estimate the level of environmental benefit to be achieved by a producer in implementing conservation activities, including indices or other measures developed by the Secretary.

(3) Conservation stewardship plan
The term conservation stewardship plan means a plan that

(A) identifies and inventories resource concerns;

(B) establishes benchmark data and conservation objectives;

(D) includes a schedule and evaluation plan for the planning, installation, and management of the new and existing conservation activities.

(4) Priority resource concern
The term priority resource concern means a resource concern that is identified at the State level, in consultation with the State Technical Committee, as a priority for a particular watershed or area of the State.

(5) Program
The term program means the conservation stewardship program established by this subpart.

(6) Resource concern
The term resource concern means a specific natural resource impairment or problem, as determined by the Secretary, that

(A) represents a significant concern in a State or region; and

(B) is likely to be addressed successfully through the implementation of conservation activities by producers on land eligible for enrollment in the program.

(7) Stewardship threshold
The term stewardship threshold means the level of natural resource conservation and environmental management required, as determined by the Secretary using conservation measurement tools, to improve and conserve the quality and condition of a resource concern.

16 USC 3838e - Conservation stewardship program

(a) Establishment and purpose
During each of fiscal years 2009 through 2012, the Secretary shall carry out a conservation stewardship program to encourage producers to address resource concerns in a comprehensive manner

(1) by undertaking additional conservation activities; and

(2) by improving, maintaining and managing existing conservation activities.

(b) Eligible land

(1) In general
Except as provided in subsection (c), the following land is eligible for enrollment in the program:

(A) Private agricultural land (including cropland, grassland, prairie land, improved pastureland, rangeland, and land used for agro-forestry).

(B) Agricultural land under the jurisdiction of an Indian tribe.

(D) Other private agricultural land (including cropped woodland, marshes, and agricultural land used for the production of livestock) on which resource concerns related to agricultural production could be addressed by enrolling the land in the program, as determined by the Secretary.

(2) Special rule for nonindustrial private forest land
Nonindustrial private forest land is eligible for enrollment in the program, except that not more than 10 percent of the annual acres enrolled nationally in any fiscal year may be nonindustrial private forest land.

(3) Agricultural operation
Eligible land shall include all acres of an agricultural operation of a producer, whether or not contiguous, that are under the effective control of the producer at the time the producer enters into a stewardship contract, and is operated by the producer with equipment, labor, management, and production or cultivation practices that are substantially separate from other agricultural operations, as determined by the Secretary.

(1) Land enrolled in other conservation programs
Subject to paragraph (2), the following land is not be^[1] eligible for enrollment in the program:

(A) Land enrolled in the conservation reserve program.

(B) Land enrolled in the wetlands reserve program.

(2) Conversion to cropland
Land used for crop production after the date of enactment of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 that had not been planted, considered to be planted, or devoted to crop production for at least 4 of the 6 years preceding that date shall not be the basis for any payment under the program, unless the land does not meet the requirement because

(A) the land had previously been enrolled in the conservation reserve program;

(B) the land has been maintained using long-term crop rotation practices, as determined by the Secretary; or

[1] So in original. The word “be” probably should not appear.

16 USC 3838f - Stewardship contracts

(a) Submission of contract offers
To be eligible to participate in the conservation stewardship program, a producer shall submit to the Secretary for approval a contract offer that

(1) demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary that the producer, at the time of the contract offer, is meeting the stewardship threshold for at least one resource concern; and

(2) would, at a minimum, meet or exceed the stewardship threshold for at least 1 priority resource concern by the end of the stewardship contract by

(A) installing and adopting additional conservation activities; and

(B) improving, maintaining, and managing conservation activities in place at the operation of the producer at the time the contract offer is accepted by the Secretary.

(b) Evaluation of contract offers

(1) Ranking of applications
In evaluating contract offers made by producers to enter into contracts under the program, the Secretary shall rank applications based on

(A) the level of conservation treatment on all applicable priority resource concerns at the time of application, based to the maximum extent practicable on conservation measurement tools;

(B) the degree to which the proposed conservation treatment on applicable priority resource concerns effectively increases conservation performance, based to the maximum extent possible on conservation measurement tools;

(C) the number of applicable priority resource concerns proposed to be treated to meet or exceed the stewardship threshold by the end of the contract;

(D) the extent to which other resource concerns, in addition to priority resource concerns, will be addressed to meet or exceed the stewardship threshold by the end of the contract period; and

(E) the extent to which the actual and anticipated environmental benefits from the contract are provided at the least cost relative to other similarly beneficial contract offers.

(2) Prohibition
The Secretary may not assign a higher priority to any application because the applicant is willing to accept a lower payment than the applicant would otherwise be eligible to receive.

(3) Additional criteria
The Secretary may develop and use such additional criteria for evaluating applications to enroll in the program that the Secretary determines are necessary to ensure that national, State, and local conservation priorities are effectively addressed.

(c) Entering into contracts
After a determination that a producer is eligible for the program under subsection (a), and a determination that the contract offer ranks sufficiently high under the evaluation criteria under subsection (b), the Secretary shall enter into a conservation stewardship contract with the producer to enroll the land to be covered by the contract.

(d) Contract provisions

(1) Term
A conservation stewardship contract shall be for a term of 5 years.

(2) Provisions
The conservation stewardship contract of a producer shall

(A) state the amount of the payment the Secretary agrees to make to the producer for each year of the conservation stewardship contract under section 3838g (e) of this title;

(B) require the producer

(i) to implement during the term of the conservation stewardship contract the conservation stewardship plan approved by the Secretary;

(ii) to maintain, and make available to the Secretary at such times as the Secretary may request, appropriate records showing the effective and timely implementation of the conservation stewardship contract; and

(iii) not to engage in any activity during the term of the conservation stewardship contract on the eligible land covered by the contract that would interfere with the purposes of the conservation stewardship contract;

(i) maintain the agricultural nature of the land; and

(ii) are consistent with the conservation purposes of the conservation stewardship contract;

(D) include a provision to ensure that a producer shall not be considered in violation of the contract for failure to comply with the contract due to circumstances beyond the control of the producer, including a disaster or related condition, as determined by the Secretary; and

(E) include such other provisions as the Secretary determines necessary to ensure the purposes of the program are achieved.

(e) Contract renewal
At the end of an initial conservation stewardship contract of a producer, the Secretary may allow the producer to renew the contract for one additional five-year period if the producer

(1) demonstrates compliance with the terms of the existing contract; and

(2) agrees to adopt new conservation activities, as determined by the Secretary.

(f) Modification
The Secretary may allow a producer to modify a stewardship contract if the Secretary determines that the modification is consistent with achieving the purposes of the program.

(g) Contract termination

(1) Voluntary termination
A producer may terminate a conservation stewardship contract if the Secretary determines that termination would not defeat the purposes of the program.

(2) Involuntary termination
The Secretary may terminate a contract under this subpart if the Secretary determines that the producer violated the contract.

(3) Repayment
If a contract is terminated, the Secretary may, consistent with the purposes of the program

(A) allow the producer to retain payments already received under the contract; or

(B) require repayment, in whole or in part, of payments already received and assess liquidated damages.

(4) Change of interest in land subject to a contract

(A) In general
Except as provided in paragraph (B), a change in the interest of a producer in land covered by a contract under this part shall result in the termination of the contract with regard to that land.

(B) Transfer of duties and rights
Subparagraph (A) shall not apply if

(i) within a reasonable period of time (as determined by the Secretary) after the date of the change in the interest in land covered by a contract under the program, the transferee of the land provides written notice to the Secretary that all duties and rights under the contract have been transferred to, and assumed by, the transferee; and

(ii) the transferee meets the eligibility requirements of the program.

(h) Coordination with organic certification
The Secretary shall establish a transparent means by which producers may initiate organic certification under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6501 et. seq.) while participating in a contract under this subpart.

(i) On-farm research and demonstration or pilot testing
The Secretary may approve a contract offer under this subpart that includes

(1) on-farm conservation research and demonstration activities; and

(2) pilot testing of new technologies or innovative conservation practices.

16 USC 3838g - Duties of the Secretary

(a) In general
To achieve the conservation goals of a contract under the conservation stewardship program, the Secretary shall

(1) make the program available to eligible producers on a continuous enrollment basis with 1 or more ranking periods, one of which shall occur in the first quarter of each fiscal year;

(2) identify not less than 3 nor more than 5 priority resource concerns in a particular watershed or other appropriate region or area within a State; and

(3) develop reliable conservation measurement tools for purposes of carrying out the program.

(b) Allocation to States
The Secretary shall allocate acres to States for enrollment, based

(1) primarily on each States proportion of eligible acres under section 3838e (b)(1) of this title to the total number of eligible acres in all States; and

(2) also on consideration of

(A) the extent and magnitude of the conservation needs associated with agricultural production in each State;

(B) the degree to which implementation of the program in the State is, or will be, effective in helping producers address those needs; and

(c) Specialty crop and organic producers
The Secretary shall ensure that outreach and technical assistance are available, and program specifications are appropriate to enable specialty crop and organic producers to participate in the program.

(d) Acreage enrollment limitation
During the period beginning on October 1, 2008, and ending on September 30, 2017, the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable

(1) enroll in the program an additional 12,769,000 acres for each fiscal year; and

(2) manage the program to achieve a national average rate of $18 per acre, which shall include the costs of all financial assistance, technical assistance, and any other expenses associated with enrollment or participation in the program.

(e) Conservation stewardship payments

(1) Availability of payments
The Secretary shall provide a payment under the program to compensate the producer for

(A) installing and adopting additional conservation activities; and

(B) improving, maintaining, and managing conservation activities in place at the operation of the producer at the time the contract offer is accepted by the Secretary.

(2) Payment amount
The amount of the conservation stewardship payment shall be determined by the Secretary and based, to the maximum extent practicable, on the following factors:

(A) Costs incurred by the producer associated with planning, design, materials, installation, labor, management, maintenance, or training.

(B) Income forgone by the producer.

(3) Exclusions
A payment to a producer under this subsection shall not be provided for

(A) the design, construction, or maintenance of animal waste storage or treatment facilities or associated waste transport or transfer devices for animal feeding operations; or

(B) conservation activities for which there is no cost incurred or income forgone to the producer.

(4) Timing of payments

(A) In general
The Secretary shall make payments as soon as practicable after October 1 of each fiscal year for activities carried out in the previous fiscal year.

(B) Additional activities
The Secretary shall make payments to compensate producers for installation of additional practices at the time at which the practices are installed and adopted.

(f) Supplemental payments for resource-conserving crop rotations

(1) Availability of payments
The Secretary shall provide additional payments to producers that, in participating in the program, agree to adopt resource-conserving crop rotations to achieve beneficial crop rotations as appropriate for the land of the producers.

(2) Beneficial crop rotations
The Secretary shall determine whether a resource-conserving crop rotation is a beneficial crop rotation eligible for additional payments under paragraph (1), based on whether the resource-conserving crop rotation is designed to provide natural resource conservation and production benefits.

(3) Eligibility
To be eligible to receive a payment described in paragraph (1), a producer shall agree to adopt and maintain beneficial resource-conserving crop rotations for the term of the contract.

(4) Resource-conserving crop rotation
In this subsection, the term resource-conserving crop rotation means a crop rotation that

(A) includes at least 1 resource conserving crop (as defined by the Secretary);

(B) reduces erosion;

(D) interrupts pest cycles; and

(E) in applicable areas, reduces depletion of soil moisture or otherwise reduces the need for irrigation.

(g) Payment limitations
A person or legal entity may not receive, directly or indirectly, payments under this subpart that, in the aggregate, exceed $200,000 for all contracts entered into during any 5-year period, excluding funding arrangements with federally recognized Indian tribes or Alaska Native corporations, regardless of the number of contracts entered into under the program by the person or entity.

(h) Regulations
The Secretary shall promulgate regulations that

(1) prescribe such other rules as the Secretary determines to be necessary to ensure a fair and reasonable application of the limitations established under subsection (g); and

(2) otherwise enable the Secretary to carry out the program.

(i) Data
The Secretary shall maintain detailed and segmented data on contracts and payments under the program to allow for quantification of the amount of payments made for

(1) the installation and adoption of additional conservation activities and improvements to conservation activities in place on the operation of a producer at the time the conservation stewardship offer is accepted by the Secretary;

(2) participation in research, demonstration, and pilot projects; and

(3) the development and periodic assessment and evaluation of conservation plans developed under this subpart.