§8711 Base acres

Summary

The Secretary must change a farm’s base acres for covered commodities when certain changes happen: a conservation reserve (CRP) contract under section 1231 ends or is ended (including contracts that ended between October 1, 2007 and the law’s enactment), cropland is released from a CRP contract (including releases in that same period), the producer has eligible pulse crop acreage (determined like eligible oilseed acreage under 7 U.S.C. 7911(a)(2)), or the Secretary adds oilseeds (same determination). In the first crop year when base acres change because a CRP contract ended or was released, the farm owner must choose either direct and counter-cyclical payments for the added acreage or a prorated CRP payment — not both. If the total of base acres plus certain other acreage (for example, peanut base acres, land in CRP or Wetlands Reserve, other federal conservation program acreage, eligible pulse or designated oilseed acreage) is more than the farm’s actual cropland, the Secretary must reduce base acres so the total does not exceed actual cropland. The owner may choose which commodity base acres to cut. There is an exception for double cropping, and the Secretary must follow 7 U.S.C. 8752(b). Owners may permanently reduce base acres under rules the Secretary makes. The Secretary must also cut base acres when land is subdivided and turned into nonfarm lots unless the land stays in commercial farming or will return to farming, and must report yearly to Congress about these actions. Producers on farms with 10 or fewer base acres cannot get direct, counter-cyclical, or ACRE payments, except for farms owned by socially disadvantaged or limited-resource farmers; that limit did not apply for the 2008 crop year. The Secretary must collect and publish related farm data and study effects on fruit and vegetable supply and prices.