- § 8781. Administration generally
- § 8782. Suspension of permanent price support authority
- § 8783. Availability of quality incentive payments for covered oilseed producers
- § 8784. Assignment of payments
- § 8785. Tracking of benefits
- § 8786. Prevention of deceased individuals receiving payments under farm commodity programs
- § 8787. Hard white wheat development program
- § 8788. Durum wheat quality program
- § 8789. Storage facility loans
- § 8790. Signature authority
- § 8791. Information gathering
- § 8792. Geographically disadvantaged farmers and ranchers
- § 8793. Implementation
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the Secretary shall use the funds, facilities, and authorities of the Commodity Credit Corporation to carry out this chapter.
A determination made by the Secretary under this chapter shall be final and conclusive.
Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary and the Commodity Credit Corporation, as appropriate, shall promulgate such regulations as are necessary to implement this chapter and the amendments made by this chapter.
In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary shall use the authority provided under section 808 of title 5.
Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), the Secretary shall implement the amendments made by sections 1603 and 1604 for the 2009 crop, fiscal, or program year, as appropriate, through the promulgation of an interim rule.
If the Secretary determines that expenditures under this chapter that are subject to the total allowable domestic support levels under the Uruguay Round Agreements (as defined in section 3501 of title 19) will exceed such allowable levels for any applicable reporting period, the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, make adjustments in the amount of such expenditures during that period to ensure that such expenditures do not exceed such allowable levels.
Before making any adjustment under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives or the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report describing the determination made under that paragraph and the extent of the adjustment to be made.
The joint resolution entitled “A joint resolution relating to corn and wheat marketing quotas under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended”, approved May 26, 1941 (7 U.S.C. 1330 and 1340), shall not be applicable to the crops of wheat planted for harvest in the calendar years 2008 through 2012.
Subject to subsection (b) and the availability of appropriations under subsection (h), the Secretary shall use funds made available under subsection (h) to provide quality incentive payments for the production of oilseeds with specialized traits that enhance human health, as determined by the Secretary.
If funds are made available to carry out this section for a crop year, the Secretary shall issue a request for proposals for payments under this section.
A proponent may submit a multiyear proposal for payments under this section.
The Secretary shall approve successful proposals submitted under subsection (c) on a timely basis.
The Secretary shall make payments to producers under this section after the Secretary receives documentation that the premium required under a contract has been paid to covered producers.
If funding provided for a crop year is not fully allocated under the initial request for proposals under subsection (c), the Secretary shall issue additional requests for proposals for subsequent crop years under this section.
If funding provided for a crop year is less than the amount otherwise approved by the Secretary or for which approval is sought, the Secretary shall prorate the payments or approvals in a manner determined by the Secretary so that the total payments do not exceed the funding level.
The Secretary shall protect proprietary information provided to the Secretary for the purpose of administering this section.
The proponent, if approved, shall be required to guarantee that the oilseed on which a payment is made by the Secretary under this section is used for human consumption as described in the proposal, as approved by the Secretary.
The Secretary may require such assurances and documentation as may be needed to enforce the guarantee.
In addition to payments required under paragraph (2), the Secretary may impose penalties on additional persons that use oilseeds the use of which is restricted under this section for a purpose other than the intended use.
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2012.
The provisions of section 590h(g) of title 16, relating to assignment of payments, shall apply to payments made under this chapter.
The producer making the assignment, or the assignee, shall provide the Secretary with notice, in such manner as the Secretary may require, of any assignment made under this section.
As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary may track the benefits provided, directly or indirectly, to individuals and entities under titles I and II and the amendments made by those titles.
At least twice each year, the Secretary shall reconcile the social security numbers of all individuals who receive payments under this chapter, whether directly or indirectly, with the Social Security Administration to determine if the individuals are alive.
The term “program” means the hard white wheat development program established under subsection (b)(1).
The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the State Departments of Agriculture and the State Wheat Commissions of the States in regions in which hard white wheat is produced, as determined by the Secretary.
Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary shall establish a hard white wheat development program in accordance with paragraph (2) to promote the establishment of hard white wheat as a viable market class of wheat in the United States by encouraging production of at least 240,000,000 bushels of hard white wheat by 2012.
Subject to subparagraphs (B) and (C) and subsection (c), if funds are made available for any of the 2009 through 2012 crops of hard white wheat, the Secretary shall make available incentive payments to producers of those crops.
The Secretary shall carry out subparagraph (A) subject to a regional limitation determined by the Secretary on the number of acres for which payments may be received that takes into account planting history and potential planting, but does not exceed a total of 2,900,000 acres or the equivalent volume of production based on a yield of 50 bushels per acre.
There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $35,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2009 through 2012.
Subject to the availability of funds under subsection (c), the Secretary shall provide compensation to producers of durum wheat in an amount not to exceed 50 percent of the actual cost of fungicides applied to a crop of durum wheat of the producers to control Fusarium head blight (wheat scab) on acres certified to have been planted to Durum wheat in a crop year.
If the total amount of funds appropriated for a fiscal year under subsection (c) are insufficient to fulfill all eligible requests for compensation under this section, the Secretary shall prorate the compensation payments in a manner determined by the Secretary to be equitable.
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2012.
As soon as practicable after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a storage facility loan program to provide funds for producers of grains, oilseeds, pulse crops, hay, renewable biomass, and other storable commodities (other than sugar), as determined by the Secretary, to construct or upgrade storage and handling facilities for the commodities.
A storage facility loan under this section shall have a maximum term of 12 years.
The maximum principal amount of a storage facility loan under this section shall be $500,000.
The Secretary shall provide for 1 partial disbursement of loan principal and 1 final disbursement of loan principal, as determined to be appropriate and subject to acceptable documentation, to facilitate the purchase and construction of eligible facilities.
In carrying out this title and title II and amendments made by those titles, if the Secretary approves a document, the Secretary shall not subsequently determine the document is inadequate or invalid because of the lack of authority of any person signing the document on behalf of the applicant or any other individual, entity, general partnership, or joint venture, or the documents relied upon were determined inadequate or invalid, unless the person signing the program document knowingly and willfully falsified the evidence of signature authority or a signature.
Nothing in this section prohibits the Secretary from asking a proper party to affirm any document that otherwise would be considered approved under subsection (a).
The Secretary shall ensure that all the geospatial data of the agencies of the Department of Agriculture are portable and standardized.
In this subsection, the term “agricultural operation” includes the production and marketing of agricultural commodities and livestock.
The participation of the agricultural producer or owner of agricultural land in, or receipt of any benefit under, any program administered by the Secretary may not be conditioned on the consent of the agricultural producer or owner of agricultural land under paragraph (4)(C).
The disclosure of information under paragraph (2) shall not constitute a waiver of any applicable privilege or protection under Federal law, including trade secret protection.
The term “agricultural commodity” has the meaning given the term in section 5602 of this title.
The term “geographically disadvantaged farmer or rancher” has the meaning given the term in section 10906(a) of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 2204 note; Public Law 107–171).
Subject to the availability of funds under subsection (d), the Secretary may provide geographically disadvantaged farmers or ranchers direct reimbursement payments for activities described in subsection (c).
Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), the Secretary may provide direct reimbursement payments to a geographically disadvantaged farmer or rancher to transport an agricultural commodity, or inputs used to produce an agricultural commodity, during a fiscal year.
To be eligible to receive assistance under paragraph (1), a geographically disadvantaged farmer or rancher shall demonstrate to the Secretary that transportation of the agricultural commodity or inputs occurred over a distance of more than 30 miles, as determined by the Secretary.
The total amount of direct reimbursement payments provided by the Secretary under this section shall not exceed $15,000,000 for a fiscal year.
There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section for fiscal year 2009 and each succeeding fiscal year.
The Secretary shall make available to the Farm Service Agency to carry out this chapter $50,000,000.