Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 91.djvu/976

 91 STAT. 942

7 USC 1352. Cropland setaside.

Eligibility.

Land diversion payments.

Contracts.

Bids, submittal.

PUBLIC LAW 95-113—SEPT. 29, 1977 producers, the total quantity of rice which the persons involved in producing rice on a farm are able to harvest on the acreage allotments of producers on the farm or the farm acreage allotment is less than the result of multiplying 75 per centum of the yield established for the farm by the acreage within the allotment planted to rice for harvest for such crop, the Secretary shall make a farm disaster payment to the cooperators on the farm for the deficiency in production below 75 per centum of the crop at a rate equal to 33i/^ per centum of the established price for the crop. " (D) Any payment made under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of this paragraph with regard to acres transferred under section 352(d) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, shall be calculated with respect to the farm yield established on the farm to which such acres were transferred. " (5) The Secretary shall provide for a set-aside of cropland if the Secretary determines that the total supply of rice will, in the absence of such set-aside, likely be excessive taking into account the need for an adequate carryover to maintain reasonable and stable supplies and prices and to meet a national emergency. If a set-aside of cropland is in effect under this paragraph, then as a condition of eligibility for loans, purchases, and payments under this subsection, the cooperators on a farm must set aside and devote to conservation uses an acreage of cropland equal to (i) such percentage of the farm acreage allotment as may be specified by the Secretary (not to exceed 30 per centum of the farm acreage allotment), plus, if required by the Secretary, (ii) the acreage of cropland on the farm devoted in preceding years to soil conserving uses, as determined by the Secretary. The set-aside acreage shall be devoted to conservation uses, in accordance with regulations issued by the Secretary, which will assure protection of such acreage from weeds and wind and water erosion; however, the Secretary may permit, subject to such terms and conditions as the Secretary may prescribe, all or any part of the setaside acreage to be devoted to sweet sorghum, hay, and grazing or the production of guar, sesame, safflower, sunflower, castor beans, mustard seed, crambe, plantago ovato, flaxseed, triticale, oats, rye, or other commodity, if the Secretary determines that such production is needed to provide an adequate supply of such commodities, is not likely to increase the cost of the price support program, and will not adversely affect farm income. " (6) The Secretary may make land diversion payments to cooperators, whether or not a set-aside for rice is in effect, if the Secretary determines that such land diversion payments are necessary to assist in adjusting the total national acreage of rice to desirable goals. Such land diversion payments shall be made to cooperators on a farm who, to the extent prescribed by the Secretary, devote to approved conservation uses an acreage of cropland on the farm in accordance with land diversion contracts entered into by the Secretary with such cooperators. The amounts payable to cooperators under land diversion contracts may be determined through the submission of bids for such contracts by cooperators in such manner as the Secretary may prescribe or through such other means as the Secretary determines appropriate. I n determining the acceptability of contract offers, the Secretary shall take into consideration the extent of the diversion to

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