16 U.S.C. § 590h : US Code - Section 590H: Payments and grants of aid

Search 16 U.S.C. § 590h : US Code - Section 590H: Payments and grants of aid

(a) Repealed. Pub. L. 87-703, title I, Sec. 101(2), Sept. 27, 1962,
76 Stat. 605
(b) Conservation and environmental assistance
(1) Environmental quality incentives program
The Secretary shall provide technical assistance, cost-share
payments, and incentive payments to operators through the
environmental quality incentives program in accordance with
chapter 4 of subtitle D of title XII of the Food Security Act of
1985 [16 U.S.C. 3839aa et seq.].
(2) to (4) Repealed. Pub. L. 104-127, title III, Sec.
336(a)(1)(A)(i)(I), Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 1004
(5) State, county, and area committees
(A) Appointment of State committees
The Secretary shall appoint in each State a State committee
composed of not fewer than 3 nor more than 5 members who are
fairly representative of the farmers in the State. The members
of a State committee shall serve at the pleasure of the
Secretary for such term as the Secretary may establish.
(B) Establishment and elections for county, area, or local
committees
(i) Establishment
(I) In general
In each county or area in which activities are carried
out under this section, the Secretary shall establish a
county or area committee.
(II) Local administrative areas
The Secretary may designate local administrative areas
within a county or a larger area under the jurisdiction of
a committee established under subclause (I).
(ii) Composition of county, area, or local committees
A committee established under clause (i) shall consist of
not fewer than 3 nor more than 5 members that -
(I) are fairly representative of the agricultural
producers within the area covered by the county, area, or
local committee; and
(II) are elected by the agricultural producers that
participate or cooperate in programs administered within
the area under the jurisdiction of the county, area, or
local committee.
(iii) Elections
(I) In general
Subject to subclauses (II) through (V), the Secretary
shall establish procedures for nominations and elections to
county, area, or local committees.
(II) Nondiscrimination statement
Each solicitation of nominations for, and notice of
elections of, a county, area, or local committee shall
include the nondiscrimination statement used by the
Secretary.
(III) Nominations
(aa) Eligibility
To be eligible for nomination and election to the
applicable county, area, or local committee, as
determined by the Secretary, an agricultural producer
shall be located within the area under the jurisdiction
of a county, area, or local committee, and participate or
cooperate in programs administered within that area.
(bb) Outreach
In addition to such nominating procedures as the
Secretary may prescribe, the Secretary shall solicit and
accept nominations from organizations representing the
interests of socially disadvantaged groups (as defined in
section 355(e)(1) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 2003(e)(1)).(!1)
(IV) Opening of ballots
(aa) Public notice
At least 10 days before the date on which ballots are
to be opened and counted, a county, area, or local
committee shall announce the date, time, and place at
which election ballots will be opened and counted.
(bb) Opening of ballots
Election ballots shall not be opened until the date and
time announced under item (aa).
(cc) Observation
Any person may observe the opening and counting of the
election ballots.
(V) Report of election
Not later than 20 days after the date on which an
election is held, a county, area, or local committee shall
file an election report with the Secretary and the State
office of the Farm Service Agency that includes -
(aa) the number of eligible voters in the area covered
by the county, area, or local committee;
(bb) the number of ballots cast in the election by
eligible voters (including the percentage of eligible
voters that cast ballots);
(cc) the number of ballots disqualified in the
election;
(dd) the percentage that the number of ballots
disqualified is of the number of ballots received;
(ee) the number of nominees for each seat up for
election;
(ff) the race, ethnicity, and gender of each nominee,
as provided through the voluntary self-identification of
each nominee; and
(gg) the final election results (including the number
of ballots received by each nominee).
(VI) National report
Not later than 90 days after the date on which the first
election of a county, area, or local committee that occurs
after May 13, 2002, is held, the Secretary shall complete a
report that consolidates all the election data reported to
the Secretary under subclause (V).
(VII) Election reform
(aa) Analysis
If determined necessary by the Secretary after
analyzing the data contained in the report under
subclause (VI), the Secretary shall promulgate and
publish in the Federal Register proposed uniform
guidelines for conducting elections for members and
alternate members of county, area, and local committees
not later than 1 year after the date of completion of the
report.
(bb) Inclusion
The procedures promulgated by the Secretary under item
(aa) shall ensure fair representation of socially
disadvantaged groups described in subclause (III)(bb) in
an area covered by the county, area, or local committee,
in cases in which those groups are underrepresented on
the county, area, or local committee for that area.
(cc) Methods of inclusion
Notwithstanding clause (ii), the Secretary may ensure
inclusion of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers
through provisions allowing for appointment of 1
additional voting member to a county, area, or local
committee or through other methods.
(iv) Term of office
The term of office for a member of a county, area, or local
committee shall not exceed 3 years.
(v) Public availability and report to Congress
(I) Public disclosure
The Secretary shall maintain and make readily available
to the public, via website and otherwise in electronic and
paper form, all data required to be collected and computed
under section 2279-1(c) of title 7 and clause (iii)(V)
collected annually since the most recent Census of
Agriculture.
(II) Report to Congress
After each Census of Agriculture, the Secretary shall
report to Congress the rate of loss or gain in
participation by each socially disadvantaged group, by
race, ethnicity, and gender, since the previous Census.
(C) Termination or combination of committees
The Secretary may not terminate a county or area committee or
combine or consolidate two or more county or area committees
unless -
(i) the Secretary first notifies the committee or
committees involved of the proposed action; and
(ii) the State committee of the State in which the affected
counties are located approves of such action in a vote taken
after the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date the
notification is received.
(D) Use of committees
The Secretary shall use the services of such committees in
carrying out programs under this section and the agricultural
credit programs under the Consolidated Farm and Rural
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1921 et seq.) and in considering
administrative appeals as provided by section 6932(d) of title
7. The Secretary may use the services of such committees in
carrying out programs under other authorities administered by
the Secretary.
(E) Regulations
The Secretary shall issue such regulations as the Secretary
considers necessary relating to the selection and exercise of
the functions of the respective committees, and to the
administration through such committees of the programs
described in subparagraph (D). Pursuant to such regulations,
each county and area committee shall select an executive
director for the area or county. Such selection shall be made
in the same manner as provided for the selection of the county
executive director under section 7.21(b)(2) of title 7, Code of
Federal Regulations, as in effect on January 1, 1994.
Regulations governing payments or grants under this subsection
shall be as simple and direct as possible, and, whenever
practicable, they shall be classified on the following two
bases:
(i) Soil-depleting practices.
(ii) Soil-building practices.
(F) Mandatory duties of Secretary
In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall -
(i) insofar as practicable, protect the interests of
tenants and sharecroppers;
(ii) accord such encouragement to producer-owned and
producer-controlled cooperative associations as will be in
harmony with the policy toward cooperative associations set
forth in Federal laws and as will tend to promote efficient
methods of marketing and distribution;
(iii) in every practicable manner, protect the interests of
small producers; and
(iv) in every practical way, encourage and provide for soil-
conserving and soil-rebuilding practices.
(G) Discretionary authorities of Secretary
In carrying out this section, the Secretary may use other
approved agencies.
(H) Limitations
In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall not have
the authority to acquire any land or any right or interest in
land.
(c) Apportionment of acreage allotments
(1) In apportioning acreage allotments under this section in the
case of wheat and corn, the National and State allotments and the
allotments to counties shall be apportioned annually on the basis
of the acreage seeded for the production of the commodity during
the ten calendar years immediately preceding the calendar year in
which the national acreage allotment is determined (plus, in
applicable years, the acreage diverted under previous agricultural
adjustment and conservation programs), with adjustments for
abnormal weather conditions and trends in acreage during the
applicable period.
(2) In the case of wheat, the allotment to any county shall be
apportioned annually by the Secretary, through the local
committees, among the farms within such county on the basis of
tillable acres, crop-rotation practices, type of soil, and
topography. Not more than 3 per centum of such county allotment
shall be apportioned to farms on which wheat has not been planted
during any of the three marketing years immediately preceding the
marketing year in which the allotment is made. Notwithstanding any
other provision of this section, the allotments established, or
which would have been established, for any farm acquired in 1940 or
thereafter by the United States for national-defense purposes shall
be placed in an allotment pool and shall be used only to establish
allotments for other farms owned or acquired by the owner of the
farm so acquired by the United States. The allotments so made for
any farm, including a farm on which wheat has not been planted
during any of the three marketing years preceding the marketing
year in which the allotment is made, shall compare with the
allotments established for other farms in the same area which are
similar except for the past acreage of wheat.
(3) In the case of corn, the allotment to any county shall be
apportioned annually by the Secretary, through the local
committees, among the farms within such county on the basis of
tillable acreage, type of soil, topography, and crop rotation
practices.
(4) Repealed. Apr. 10, 1939, ch. 48, 53 Stat. 573.
(5) In determining normal yield per acre for any county under
this section in the case of wheat or corn, the normal yield shall
be the average yield per acre therein for such commodity during the
ten calendar years immediately preceding the calendar year in which
such yield is determined, adjusted for abnormal weather conditions
and trends in yields. If for any reason there is no actual yield,
or the data therefor are not available for any year, then an
appraised yield for such year, determined in accordance with
regulations of the Secretary, shall be used. If, on account of
drought, flood, insect pests, plant disease, or other
uncontrollable natural cause, the yield in any year of such ten-
year period is less than 75 per centum of the average (computed
without regard to such year), such year shall be eliminated in
calculating the normal yield per acre. Such normal yield per acre
for any county need be redetermined only when the actual average
yield for the ten calendar years immediately preceding the calendar
year in which such yield is being reconsidered differs by at least
5 per centum from the actual average yield for the ten years upon
which the existing normal yield per acre for the county was based.
(6) In determining normal yield per acre for any farm under this
section in the case of wheat or corn, the normal yield shall be the
average yield per acre thereon for such commodity during the ten
calendar years immediately preceding the calendar year in which
such yield is determined, adjusted for abnormal weather conditions
and trends in yields. If for any such year the data are not
available, or there is no actual yield, then the normal yield for
the farm shall be appraised in accordance with regulations of the
Secretary, taking into consideration abnormal weather conditions,
the normal yield for the county, and the yield in years for which
data are available.
(d) to (f) Repealed. Pub. L. 104-127, title III, Sec.
336(a)(1)(A)(ii), Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 1004
(g) Assignment of payments
A payment that may be made to a producer under this section may
be assigned only in accordance with regulations issued by the
Secretary. This subsection shall not authorize any suit against or
impose any liability on the Secretary, any disbursing agent, or any
agency of the United States if payment is made to the producer
without regard to the existence of any such assignment.