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Title 7, AgricultureRelease 119-102

§1379 Reconstitution of Farms

Title 7 › CHAPTER 35 — AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 1938 › SUBCHAPTER II — LOANS, PARITY PAYMENTS, CONSUMER SAFEGUARDS, MARKETING QUOTAS, AND MARKETING CERTIFICATES › Part C — Administrative Provisions › subpart ii — adjustment of quotas and enforcement › § 1379

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

When part of a farm is sold or moved to a new owner, the farm’s acreage allotments, history acres, and base acres must be split between the sold piece and the remaining farm based on each piece’s share of cropland acres. The Secretary will write the rules for dividing them if any of these apply: (1) the piece is or will be taken by an agency with eminent domain; (2) the piece will be used for nonfarm purposes; (3) the parent farm was made by joining several tracts and records show each tract’s contribution; (4) the county committee says a cropland-based split would not match normal farming on the tract during the base period; (5) the farm is divided among heirs settling an estate; or (6) neither piece would end up with allotments larger than similar farms in the area and the allotments fit good land use.

Full Legal Text

Title 7, §1379

Agriculture, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

In any case in which the ownership of a tract of land is transferred from a parent farm, the acreage allotments, history acreages, and base acreages for the farm shall be divided between such tract and the parent farm in the same proportion that the cropland acreage in such tract bears to the cropland acreage in the parent farm, except that the Secretary shall provide by regulation the method to be used in determining the division, if any, of the acreage allotments, histories, and bases in any case in which—
(1)the tract of land transferred from the parent farm has been or is being transferred to any agency having the right to acquire it by eminent domain;
(2)the tract of land transferred from the parent farm is to be used for nonagricultural purposes;
(3)the parent farm resulted from a combination of two or more tracts of land and records are available showing the contribution of each tract to the allotments, histories, and bases of the parent farm;
(4)the appropriate county committee determines that a division based on cropland proportions would result in allotments and bases not representative of the operations normally carried out on any transferred tract during the base period;
(5)the parent farm is divided among heirs in settling an estate; or
(6)neither the tract transferred from the parent farm nor the remaining portion of the parent farm receives allotments in excess of allotments for similar farms in the community having allotments of the commodity or commodities involved and such allotments are consistent with good land uses.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2004—Pub. L. 108–357 struck out “(a)” before “In any case”, struck out “, but this clause (6) shall not be applicable in the case of burley tobacco” before period at end of par. (6), and struck out subsecs. (b) and (c), which related to combination of tracts in contiguous counties, and to burley tobacco poundage quota when a farm is divided through reconstitution, respectively. 1999—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 106–78 inserted “or flue-cured” after “Burley”. 1991—Subsecs. (a)(4) to (7), (c). Pub. L. 102–237 struck out “or” at end of par. (4), substituted “; or” for period at end of par. (5), substituted a period for “; or” at end of par. (6), and redesignated par. (7) as subsec. (c) and moved subsec. (c) to follow subsec. (b). 1990—Subsec. (a)(7). Pub. L. 101–577 added par. (7). 1983—Pub. L. 98–180 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b). 1970—Pub. L. 91–524 temporarily inserted provision that term “acreage allotments” include the farm base acreage allotments for upland cotton and the domestic allotment for wheat. See Effective and Termination Dates of 1970 Amendment note below.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2004 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 108–357 applicable to the 2005 and subsequent crops of tobacco, see section 643 of Pub. L. 108–357, set out as an

Effective Date

note under section 518 of this title. Effective and Termination Dates of 1970 Amendment Pub. L. 91–524, title IV, § 404, title VI, § 605, Nov. 30, 1970, 84 Stat. 1366, 1378, as amended by Pub. L. 93–86, § 1(11), (22), Aug. 10, 1973, 87 Stat. 229, 235, provided that the

Amendments

made by section 404 and 605 are effective only with respect to the 1971 through 1977 crops.

Savings Provision

Amendment by sections 611 to 614 of Pub. L. 108–357 not to affect the liability of any person under any provision of law so amended with respect to the 2004 or an earlier crop of tobacco, see section 614 of Pub. L. 108–357, set out as a note under section 515 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

7 U.S.C. § 1379

Title 7, Agriculture

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102