Title 7AgricultureRelease 119-73not60

§7218 Planting Flexibility

Title 7 › Chapter 100— AGRICULTURAL MARKET TRANSITION › Subchapter II— PRODUCTION FLEXIBILITY CONTRACTS › § 7218

Last updated Apr 3, 2026|Official source

Summary

Farmers may plant any crop on land under a commodity contract. Fruits and vegetables are usually not allowed on that land, except lentils, mung beans, and dry peas. Three exceptions let fruits or vegetables be planted: when the Agriculture Secretary finds a region has a history of double-cropping; on a farm with a prior history of planting them (but the contract payment is reduced by one acre for each acre planted); and by a producer with an established history for a specific fruit or vegetable, limited to their average annual acreage in 1991 through 1995 (excluding years with no plantings) and with the same payment reduction.

Full Legal Text

Title 7, §7218

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Subject to subsection (b), any commodity or crop may be planted on contract acreage on a farm.
(b)(1)The planting of fruits and vegetables (other than lentils, mung beans, and dry peas) shall be prohibited on contract acreage.
(2)Paragraph (1) shall not limit the planting of a fruit or vegetable—
(A)in any region in which there is a history of double-cropping of contract commodities with fruits or vegetables, as determined by the Secretary, in which case the double-cropping shall be permitted;
(B)on a farm that the Secretary determines has a history of planting fruits or vegetables on contract acreage, except that a contract payment shall be reduced by an acre for each acre planted to the fruit or vegetable; or
(C)by a producer who the Secretary determines has an established planting history of a specific fruit or vegetable, except that—
(i)the quantity planted may not exceed the producer’s average annual planting history of the fruit or vegetable in the 1991 through 1995 crop years (excluding any crop year in which no plantings were made), as determined by the Secretary; and
(ii)a contract payment shall be reduced by an acre for each acre planted to the fruit or vegetable.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Contract Payments for Wild Rice Acreage Pub. L. 106–78, title VII, § 727, Oct. 22, 1999, 113 Stat. 1164, provided that: “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise available to the Department of Agriculture in fiscal year 2000 or thereafter may be used to administer the provision of contract payments to a producer under the Agricultural Market Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.) for contract acreage on which wild rice is planted unless the contract payment is reduced by an acre for each contract acre planted to wild rice.” Similar provisions were contained in the following prior appropriations acts: Pub. L. 105–277, div. A, § 101(a) [title VII, § 727], Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681, 2681–28. Pub. L. 105–86, title VII, § 734, Nov. 18, 1997, 111 Stat. 2110.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

7 U.S.C. § 7218

Title 7Agriculture

Last Updated

Apr 3, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60