§ 1410.64 - Transition Incentives Program.

§ 1410.64 Transition Incentives Program.

(a) To be eligible for the Transition Incentives Program, the retired or retiring owner or operator mustall the following must be met:

(1) Have land that is expiring under an existing CRP contract with a 50 percent or greater interest as provided at § 1410.42 (c) The land must be enrolled in CRP;

(2) Sell or lease (under a qualifying irrevocable lease of at least 5 years in length) expiring CRP land The conditions for the timing of the sale or lease of the land and to whom it must be sold or leased are:

(i) Beginning on the date of the end of the CRP contract period, the land must be sold or leased (under a long-term lease, or a lease with an option to purchase the land, including a lease with a term of less than 5 years and an option to purchase the land) to a beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher who will return some or all of the land to production using sustainable grazing or crop production methods; and

(

3) Modify the CRP contract

ii) The sale or lease, as applicable, must take effect on the day immediately after the end of the CRP contract period;

(3) The CRP contract is modified in accordance with § 1410.33(a)(4);

(4) Allow the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher to begin the organic certification process under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 during the last year of the contract, if requested by that farmer or rancher;

(5) Allow the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher to develop a conservation plan for the land; and

(6) Allow the

The land is not subject to an easement or other restriction that prohibits the use of the land allowed under this section; and

(5) The beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged

farmer or rancher to install conservation practices and initiate land improvements, including preparing to plant a crop, that are consistent with the conservation plan during the last year of the contract.

(b) To be eligible for participation in the Transition Incentives Program, the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged

farmers or ranchers must:

(

1

i) Certify that they meet the definition

in § 1410.2

of either a beginning

,

or veteran

,

farmer or rancher as defined in part 718 of this title, or a socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher as defined in § 1410.2;

(

2

ii) Obtain

and implement a

an approved conservation plan prior to approval of the Transition Incentives Program contract; and

(

3

iii) Implement sustainable grazing or crop production on land not re-enrolled in CRP in compliance with the conservation plan by the time specified in the conservation plan.

(b) Beginning in the last 2 years of the CRP contract period, the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher may:

(1) In conjunction with the contract participants, make conservation and land improvements, including preparing to plant a crop, that are consistent with the conservation plan; and

(2) Begin the organic certification process under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.

(c) Eligible beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers will may be eligible immediately to reenroll re-enroll certain partial field conservation practices in CRP, in accordance with the conservation plan and the provisions of this part, following the expiration of the CRP contract of the qualified retired or retiring owner or operator, provided that the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher has control of the property land and meets all other qualifying conditions of CRP, as specified in this part.

(d) Eligible beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers will be eligible to enroll land in the Conservation Stewardship Program or the Environmental Quality Incentives Program or the Conservation Stewardship Program, as specified in parts 1466 and 1470 and 1466 of this chapter, provided that their offer to enroll otherwise meets all program conditions, and provided that the CRP contract of the retired or retiring owner or operator has expired and the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher has sufficient control is either leasing or has possession of the property.

(e) As an incentive for selling or leasing land to a beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher who is not a family member of the previous participants, CCC will pay 2 years of additional CRP annual rental payments at the same contract rate to a retired or retiring owner or operator. The retired or retiring owner or operator must certify the previous participants. The previous participants must certify in writing that the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher is not a family member.

(f) The eligible retired or retiring owner or operator previous participants and the eligible beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher must agree to be jointly and severally responsible for complying with both the provisions of the Transition Incentives Program agreement contract and the provisions of this part, and must also agree to be jointly and severally responsible for any payment adjustments that may result from violations of the terms or conditions of the Transition Incentives Program agreement contract or this part.

[75 FR 27169, May 14, 2010, as amended at 80 FR 42004, July 16, 2015]