§ 729.215 - Release and reapportionment of quota.

(a) Release. By filing Form FSA-278 with the county FSA office that serves the county in which the farm is located for administrative purposes, part or all of the farm's:

(1) Temporary release. Effective quota may be temporarily released to the county committee for the current year.

(2) Permanent release. Basic quota may be permanently released to the county committee. If the farm consists of separately identifiable tracts having different ownership, the owner(s) of any tract may permanently release part or all of the basic quota contributed to the farm by such tract.

(b) Request for released quota. Permanently released quota shall be reallocated without a request from the farm's owner or operator to eligible farms as determined in accordance with § 729.204 of this part. Temporarily released quota, may be reapportioned to farms for which a request for released quota has been filed, on Form FSA-278, in the county FSA office that serves the county in which the farm is located for administrative purposes. Temporarily released quota shall be reapportioned in accordance with the provisions of this section.

(c) Time for filing. The final date for filing a release of quota or for requesting reapportionment of temporary released quota shall be:

(1) Permanent release. For quota to be permanently released, thirty days after the date of mailing of the notice of the farm's quota.

(2) Temporary release or request for released quota. For a temporary release or a request for released quota, the date established by the State committee for the county in which the farm is located for administrative purposes.

(d) Signature requirement. The FSA-278 shall be signed by:

(1) Temporary releases. In the case of a temporary release, the farm operator. In addition, if quota was either leased and transferred from the farm, or released from the farm, in more than one year of the base period, the FSA-278 shall be signed by the farm's owner(s).

(2) Permanent releases. In the case of a permanent release, both the owner(s) and operator of the farm.

(e) Reapportionment of temporarily released quota—(1) Time to reapportion. The county committee shall reapportion, within 10 days after the final date for temporary release of quota in the county, any quota that will be reapportioned to farms in the county. In addition, if the county committee receives released quota from the State committee, such quota shall be reapportioned within 10 days after receipt of the notice of the availability of the quota.

(2) Basis of reapportionment. The county committee:

(i) When reapportioning temporarily released quota, shall give priority to producers on nonquota farms and to producers on farms having basic quotas that are significantly below the average basic quota in the county. Otherwise, the county committee shall reapportion the released quota in amounts determined by the county committee to be fair and reasonable on the basis of:

(A) Experience by the applicant in producing peanuts;

(B) Soil and other physical factors affecting the production of peanuts on the applicant's farm; and

(C) Tillable cropland available for the production of peanuts on the applicant's farm.

(ii) Shall not reapportion released quota to a farm that has transferred quota from the farm in the current year.

(iii) Shall not reapportion quota to a farm to the extent that the farm's effective quota after the reapportionment will exceed an amount determined by multiplying the farm's tillable cropland by the larger of the farm yield or the highest actual yield for peanuts during the base period.

(f) Release to State committee. (1) Temporarily released quota that is not reapportioned by the county committee to farms in the county shall be released to the State committee for reallocating to other county committees that have requested additional quota for reapportionment to eligible producers.

(2) Permanently released quota shall be released to the State committee for reallocation to eligible farms in accordance with § 729.206 of this part.

(g) Considered produced credit. Quota that is temporarily released shall be considered produced on the releasing farm if neither of the following are applicable:

(1) Part, or all, of the farm's quota was released during any 2 or more years of the base period, or

(2) Part, or all, of the farm's quota was leased and transferred to another farm in the same county during any 2 or more years of the base period.

(h) Withdrawal or minor revision of released quota. A withdrawal or minor revision in the pounds temporarily or permanently released may be approved upon a written request filed with the county committee if, at the time the request is filed, the county committee has not transmitted permanently released quota to the State committee or, with respect to temporarily released quota, has not reapportioned such released quota to farms in the county or released such quota to the State committee for reallocation to requesting county committees.