§1344b — Title 7 Agriculture | U.S. Code

§1344b Sale, lease, or transfer of cotton acreage allotments

Title 7 › Chapter CHAPTER 35— - AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 1938 › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - LOANS, PARITY PAYMENTS, CONSUMER SAFEGUARDS, MARKETING QUOTAS, AND MARKETING CERTIFICATES › Part Part B— - Marketing Quotas › Subpart subpart iv— - marketing quotas—cotton › § 1344b

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Allows the Secretary of Agriculture to let a farm owner or operator sell, lease, or move all or part of a cotton acreage allotment to another farm, or move allotments between farms the same person owns, if it won’t harm the program. This permission can be used for the calendar years 1966 through 1970. Transfers last as long as the people who make the deal agree. Transfers must follow rules. Allotments cannot go to a farm or person in another State. Moving allotments to another county needs a county vote within three years of the transfer, and two-thirds of voting cotton producers must agree. If the farm has a mortgage or lien, the lienholder must agree. No sale is allowed if any sale to the same receiving farm happened in the three immediately preceding crop years. The receiving farm’s total allotment cannot be more than the 1965 allotment for that farm plus one hundred acres. After a sale, the farm giving up allotment cannot plant cotton above its remaining allotment for five years; for leases the same limit applies during the lease. The producer must agree to these limits. A transfer is not effective until a record is filed with the county committee of the county getting the allotment and the committee finds it follows these rules; filing is allowed only from June 1 through December 31. A transfer also moves the acreage history, farm base, and marketing quota; if done before allotments are set for a year, the transferee gets the right to an allotment that year. For leases, after the lease ends the allotment is treated as planted on the original farm when future allotments are figured. If an entire allotment and its history are moved, the original land cannot get a new cotton allotment for five years after the year of transfer. If a partial transfer lowers a minimum farm allotment, that minimum is reduced to what remains. The Secretary must make rules for carrying out these points, including adjusting transferred allotments if the receiving farm has much higher yields. If a farm is under a conservation or similar contract when a transfer happens, payments on the farm losing allotment may be adjusted, but payments on the receiving farm are not changed. The Secretary may also allow exchanges of cotton and rice allotments between farms in the same county or in adjoining counties in the same State; those exchanges must be applied for with the county committee, include acreage history, be made acre for acre or on a fair basis, and a farm that loses its entire cotton or rice allotment in such an exchange cannot get a new allotment for five crop years. These rules apply only to upland cotton.

Title 7, §1344b

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary, if he determines that it will not impair the effective operation of the program involved, (1) may permit the owner and operator of any farm for which a cotton acreage allotment is established to sell or lease all or any part or the right to all or any part of such allotment (excluding that part of the allotment which the Secretary determines was apportioned to the farm from the national acreage reserve) to any other owner or operator of a farm for transfer to such farm; (2) may permit the owner of a farm to transfer all or any part of such allotment to any other farm owned or controlled by him; Provided, That the authority granted under this section may be exercised for the calendar years 1966 through 1970, but all transfers hereunder shall be for such period of years as the parties thereto may agree.

(b)Transfers under this section shall be subject to the following conditions: (i) no allotment shall be transferred to a farm in another State or to a person for use in another State; (ii) no farm allotment may be sold or leased for transfer to a farm in another county unless the producers of cotton in the county from which transfer is being made have voted in a referendum within three years of the date of such transfer, by a two-thirds majority of the producers participating in such referendum, to permit the transfer of allotments to farms outside the county, which referendum, insofar as practicable, shall be held in conjunction with the marketing quota referendum for the commodity; (iii) no transfer of an allotment from a farm subject to a mortgage or other lien shall be permitted unless the transfer is agreed to by the lienholder; (iv) no sale of a farm allotment shall be permitted if any sale of cotton allotment to the same farm has been made within the three immediately preceding crop years; (v) the total cotton allotment for any farm to which allotment is transferred by sale or lease shall not exceed the farm acreage allotment (excluding reapportioned acreage) established for such farm for 1965 by more than one hundred acres; (vi) no cotton in excess of the remaining acreage allotment on the farm shall be planted on any farm from which the allotment (or part of an allotment) is sold for a period of five years following such sale, nor shall any cotton in excess of the remaining acreage allotment on the farm be planted on any farm from which the allotment (or part of an allotment) is leased during the period of such lease, and the producer on such farm shall so agree as a condition precedent to the Secretary’s approval of any such sale or lease; and (vii) no transfer of allotment shall be effective until a record thereof is filed with the county committee of the county to which such transfer is made and such committee determines that the transfer complies with the provisions of this section. Such record may be filed with such committee only during the period beginning June 1 and ending December 31.

(c)The transfer of an allotment shall have the effect of transferring also the acreage history, farm base, and marketing quota attributable to such allotment and if the transfer is made prior to the determination of the allotment for any year the transfer shall include the right of the owner or operator to have an allotment determined for the farm for such year: Provided, That in the case of a transfer by lease, the amount of the allotment shall be considered for purposes of determining allotments after the expiration of the lease to have been planted on the farm from which such allotment is transferred.

(d)The land in the farm from which the entire cotton allotment and acreage history have been transferred shall not be eligible for a new farm cotton allotment during the five years following the year in which such transfer is made.

(e)The transfer of a portion of a farm allotment which was established under minimum farm allotment provisions for cotton or which operates to bring the farm within the minimum farm allotment provision for cotton shall cause the minimum farm allotment or base to be reduced to an amount equal to the allotment remaining on the farm after such transfer.

(f)The Secretary shall prescribe regulations for the administration of this section, which shall include provisions for adjusting the size of the allotment transferred if the farm to which the allotment is transferred has a substantially higher yield per acre and such other terms and conditions as he deems necessary.

(g)If the sale or lease occurs during a period in which the farm is covered by a conservation reserve contract, cropland conversion agreement, cropland adjustment agreement, or other similar land utilization agreement, the rates of payment provided for in the contract or agreement of the farm from which the transfer is made shall be subject to an appropriate adjustment, but no adjustment shall be made in the contract or agreement of the farm to which the allotment is transferred.

(h)The Secretary shall by regulations authorize the exchange between farms in the same county, or between farms in adjoining counties within a State, of cotton acreage allotment for rice acreage allotment. Any such exchange shall be made on the basis of application filed with the county committee by the owners and operators of the farms, and the transfer of allotment between the farms shall include transfer of the related acreage history for the commodity. The exchange shall be acre for acre or on such other basis as the Secretary determines is fair and reasonable, taking into consideration the comparative productivity of the soil for the farms involved and other relevant factors. No farm from which the entire cotton or rice allotment has been transferred shall be eligible for an allotment of cotton or rice as a new farm within a period of five crop years after the date of such exchange.

(i)The provisions of this section relating to cotton shall apply only to upland cotton.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1973—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 93–86 struck out “for which a farm base acreage allotment is established (other than pursuant to section 1350(e)(1)(A) of this title)” after “to any other owner or operator of a farm” and substituted “1978” for “1974”. 1970—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 91–524 temporarily directed Secretary to permit certain types of transfers of all or part of farm base acreage allotments between farms in same State. See Effective and Termination Dates of 1970 Amendment note below. 1968—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 90–559 provided for a one year extension, substituting “1966 through 1970” for “1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1973 Amendment Pub. L. 93–86, § 1(19)(C), Aug. 10, 1973, 87 Stat. 233, provided that the amendment made by section 1(19)(C) of Pub. L. 93–86 is effective beginning with the 1974 crop. Effective and Termination Dates of 1970 Amendment Pub. L. 91–524, title VI, § 601(3), Nov. 30, 1970, 84 Stat. 1372, as amended by Pub. L. 93–86, § 1(19)(A), Aug. 10, 1973, 87 Stat. 233, provided that the amendment made by that section is effective only with respect to the 1971 through 1977 crops. Inapplicability of Section Section inapplicable to 1984 and subsequent crops of extra long staple cotton, see section 3 of Pub. L. 98–88, set out as a note under section 1342 of this title. Section inapplicable to 2014 through 2018 crops of covered commodities, cotton, and sugar and inapplicable to milk during period beginning Feb. 7, 2014, through Dec. 31, 2018, see section 9092(a)(1) of this title. Section inapplicable to 2008 through 2012 crops of covered commodities, peanuts, and sugar and inapplicable to milk during period beginning

June 18, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2012, see section 8782(a)(1) of this title. Section inapplicable to 2002 through 2007 crops of covered commodities, peanuts, and sugar and inapplicable to milk during period beginning

May 13, 2002, through Dec. 31, 2007, see section 7992(a)(1) of this title. Section inapplicable to 1996 through 2001 crops of loan commodities, peanuts, and sugar and inapplicable to milk during period beginning Apr. 4, 1996, and ending Dec. 31, 2002, see section 7301(a)(1)(A) of this title. Pub. L. 91–524, title VI, § 601(3)(2), Nov. 30, 1970, 84 Stat. 1372, as amended by Pub. L. 93–86, § 1(19)(A), Aug. 10, 1973, 87 Stat. 233, provided that: “Subdivisions (ii), (iv), (v), and (vi) of subsection (b) [of this section], the last sentence of subsection (b) [of this section] and subsections (e) and (h) [of this section] shall not be applicable to the 1971 through 1977 crops: Provided, That no farm allotment may be sold or leased for transfer to a farm in another county unless the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee established pursuant to section 8(b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as amended [16 U.S.C. 590h(b)], for the county from which such transfers are being made (1) finds that a demand for such acreage allotments no longer exists in such county and (2) approves any transfers of allotments to farms outside such county.”