§2266b — Title 7 Agriculture | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary must give a farm number to any farm operator who shows acceptable papers that prove they control land for farming. That farm number will count as the farm-number requirement for any program run by the Secretary. Eligible documentation: types of papers that can be used, including (1) in States that adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, a court order saying the land meets that Act’s heirs property rules or a recorder-of-deeds note that the recorded owner is dead and an heir has started retitling; (2) a signed, unrecorded tenancy-in-common agreement approved by a majority of owners that gives a specific owner the right to manage the land for farming; (3) the farm operator’s tax return showing they farmed the undivided-interest property for each of the 5 years before filing; (4) a self-certification that the operator controls the land for farming; or (5) any other papers the Secretary allows. Farm number: has the meaning given in 7 C.F.R. 718.2 (as of December 20, 2018). The Secretary must also list other alternative documents that will be accepted.

Title 7, §2266b

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In this section:

(1)The term “eligible documentation”, with respect to land for which a farm operator seeks assignment of a farm number under subsection (b)(1), includes—

(A)in States that have adopted a statute consisting of an enactment or adoption of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, as approved and recommended for enactment in all States by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2010—

(i)a court order verifying the land meets the definition of heirs property (as defined in that Act); or

(ii)a certification from the local recorder of deeds that the recorded owner of the land is deceased and not less than 1 heir of the recorded owner of the land has initiated a procedure to retitle the land in the name of the rightful heir;

(B)a fully executed, unrecorded tenancy-in-common agreement that sets out ownership rights and responsibilities among all of the owners of the land that—

(i)has been approved by a majority of the ownership interests in that property;

(ii)has given a particular owner the right to manage and control any portion or all of the land for purposes of operating a farm or ranch; and

(iii)was validly entered into under the authority of the jurisdiction in which the land is located;

(C)the tax return of a farm operator farming a property with undivided interests for each of the 5 years preceding the date on which the farm operator submits the tax returns as eligible documentation under subsection (b);

(D)self-certification that the farm operator has control of the land for purposes of operating a farm or ranch; and

(E)any other documentation identified by the Secretary under subsection (c).

(2)The term “farm number” has the meaning given the term in section 718.2 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on December 20, 2018).

(b)(1)The Secretary shall provide for the assignment of a farm number to any farm operator who provides any form of eligible documentation for purposes of demonstrating that the farm operator has control of the land for purposes of defining that land as a farm.

(2)Any farm number provided under paragraph (1) shall be sufficient to satisfy any requirement of the Secretary to have a farm number to participate in a program of the Secretary.

(c)The Secretary shall identify alternative forms of eligible documentation that a farm operator may provide in seeking the assignment of a farm number under subsection (b)(1).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Definition of “Secretary” “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture, see section 2 of Pub. L. 115–334, set out as a note under section 9001 of this title.

§2266b Eligibility for Operators on Heirs Property Land to Obtain a Farm Number

Summary

Title 7, §2266b

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Citations & Metadata