§ 1479.5 - County committee determinations of general applicability.

(a) County committees shall determine whether land that is the subject of the application is land that has suffered flood-related production losses during calendar year 1999, and is at the same time land to which the following apply:

(1) It is land that otherwise would have been used for crops or for pasture and could not be used because it was inaccessible, incapable of production, or the production was unusable during CY 1999, due to flooding;

(2) The land was inaccessible, incapable of production, or the production was unusable any one of the years 1994 through 1998, due to flooding; and

(3) The land has, otherwise, a history of actual crop production or use as pastureland at some time since 1990.

(b) In making the determination called for in paragraph (a) of this section, the County committee shall use what it considers to be the best information available including but not limited to: Extension Service; Natural Resources Conservation Service; aerial photography; rainfall data; and general knowledge of losses due to flooding.

(c) If the county Committee makes an affirmative determination under paragraph (a) of this section, the producer with the affected acreage shall be considered an “eligible producer” for purposes of this part.

(d) For purposes of setting rental rates for calculations required to be made elsewhere in this part the county committee shall use the established rental rates for Harney County, for cropland and pasture-land. These rates shall be reviewed by the State Committee and may be equal to the estimated 5-year average rental rates for all such land of each type in the county. The State Committee may take into account rates established for the Conservation Reserve Program operated under 7 CFR part 1410 and ensure, subject to paragraph (e) of this section, that the rates are comparable. The Deputy Administrator shall review and may adjust the rates for reasonableness and consistency.

(e) Except as provided by the Deputy Administrator, rental rates shall be established based on NASS data, if available for 1999.