§1359gg Special rules

Summary

Allows sugarcane owners and growers to move a farm’s acreage base history to other land with the owners’ written consent. If land with a sugarcane acreage base was changed to nonagricultural use on or after May 13, 2002, that base can be moved to other land that can deliver cane to a processor in a proportionate share State. When the Secretary learns of such a conversion, the Secretary must notify the affected landowner within 90 days. The owner then has 90 days to move the base to one or more farms they own. If that can’t be done, the grower of record is notified and has 90 days to move the base to farms they operate. If still unresolved, the county Farm Service Agency committee pools the base, takes requests after notice, and assigns it by random drawing. Any base left unassigned goes to the State committee for random allocation to other counties, which then use the same county process. Once reassigned, the base stays with the new farm and can later be transferred with owner consent. If a producer cannot harvest due to circumstances beyond their control, the Secretary can preserve the farm’s acreage base history for up to 5 consecutive years with owners’ written consent. The Secretary can redistribute the producer’s proportionate share to other farms temporarily, but those farms do not gain acreage base history from that redistribution. The Secretary can also adjust marketing allotments or proportionate shares after notice, using the same method as the original allocation. In proportionate share States, a producer with written consent from crop-share owners can deliver cane to another processor if that processor has capacity; the Secretary must then adjust each affected processor’s allocation based on the acres transferred and the grower’s share of the processor’s allocation.