§8752 Base Acres for Peanuts for a Farm

Summary

The Secretary must change a farm’s peanut base acres when certain things happen. Changes are required if a farm’s conservation reserve contract ends or was ended between October 1, 2007 and the date this Act was enacted, if cropland is released from a conservation reserve contract, if the producer has eligible pulse crop acreage, or if the producer has eligible oilseed acreage because the Secretary added more oilseeds. For the first crop year when a change is made because a contract ended or land was released, the farm owner must choose either direct payments and counter-cyclical payments for the added acres or a prorated conservation reserve payment for those acres, but not both. If the total of peanut base acres plus other listed acreage is bigger than the farm’s actual cropland, the Secretary must reduce peanut base acres or base acres for other covered commodities so the total does not exceed the cropland. The Secretary will count other base acres, land in CRP or WRP, land in other federal conservation programs paid for not producing, and eligible pulse or oilseed acreage. The owner can pick which base acres to reduce. There is an exception for double-cropped land. The owner may permanently cut peanut base acres any time. The Secretary must proportionally cut bases when land is subdivided or developed for nonfarm uses unless the land stays in commercial farming or is likely to return to farming, set rules to find such land, and report yearly to Congress. Farms with 10 or fewer base acres cannot get direct, counter-cyclical, or average crop revenue election payments, except farms owned by socially disadvantaged or limited-resource farmers. Paragraphs about the 10-acre rule do not apply during the 2008 crop year. Definitions: “eligible pulse crop acreage” — counted the same way as eligible oilseed acreage; “eligible oilseed acreage” — counted as described in the law and may include oilseeds the Secretary designates.