1410.6—Eligible land.
(1)
Cropland that is subject to a conservation plan and has been annually planted or considered planted, as defined in § 1410.2, to an agricultural commodity in 4 of the 6 crop years from 2002 through 2007, as determined by the CCC, provided further that field margins that are incidental to the planting of crops may also be considered qualifying cropland to the extent determined appropriate by the CCC; and is physically and legally capable of being planted in a normal manner to an agricultural commodity, as determined by the CCC; or
(i)
Is determined to be suitable for use as a riparian buffer or is made eligible in a CREP for similar water quality purposes as determined by the CCC. A field or portion of a field of marginal pasture land may be considered to be suitable for use as a riparian buffer only if, as determined by CCC, it:
(A)
Is located adjacent to permanent stream corridors excluding corridors that are considered gullies or sod waterways; and
(B)
Is capable, when permanent grass, forbs, shrubs, or trees, are grown, or when planted with appropriate vegetation for the area, including vegetation suitable for wetland restoration or wildlife habitat, as determined appropriate by the CCC, of substantially reducing sediment and/or nutrient runoff that otherwise would be delivered to the adjacent stream or waterbody or for water quality purposes; or
(3)
Must be acreage enrolled in the CRP during the final year of the CRP contract provided the scheduled expiration date of the current CRP contract is before the effective date the new CRP contract, as determined by the CCC.
(b)
Land qualifying under paragraphs (a)(1) or (a) (2) of this section must also meet one of the following criteria, to be eligible for a contract:
(1)
Be a field or portion of a field determined to be suitable for use, as determined by the CCC, as a permanent wildlife habitat, filter strip, riparian buffer, contour grass strip, grass waterway, field windbreak, shelterbelt, living snowfence, other uses as determined by the CCC, land devoted to vegetation on salinity producing areas, including any applicable recharge area, or any area determined eligible for CRP based on wetland or wellhead protection area criteria. A field or portion of a field may be considered to be suitable for use as a filter strip or riparian buffer only if it, as determined by CCC:
(i)
Is located adjacent to a stream, other waterbody of a permanent nature (such as a lake, pond, or sinkhole), or wetland; excluding such areas as gullies or sod waterways; and
(ii)
Is capable, when permanent grass, forbs, shrubs or trees are grown, of substantially reducing sediment or nutrient runoff that otherwise would be delivered to the adjacent stream or waterbody;
(2)
Be a field that has evidence of scour erosion caused by out-of-bank flows of water, as determined by CCC:
(ii)
To the extent practicable, be the actual affected cropland areas of a field; however, the entire cropland area of an eligible field may be enrolled if:
(B)
More than one third of the cropland in the field is land that lies between the water source and the inland limit of the scour erosion.
(iii)
Or, if the full field is not eligible for enrollment under this paragraph, be the cropland between the waterbody and inland limit of the scour erosion together with, as determined by the CCC, additional areas that would otherwise be unmanageable and would be isolated by the eligible areas.
(iv)
Be planted to an appropriate tree species according to the FOTG, unless tree planting is determined to be inappropriate by NRCS, in consultation with the Forest Service, in which case the eligible cropland shall be devoted to another acceptable permanent vegetative cover in accordance with the FOTG;
(3)
Be cropland that would facilitate a net savings in groundwater or surface water of the agricultural operation of the producer as determined by CCC;
(4)
Be cropland in a portion of a field not enrolled in the CRP, if more than 50 percent of the remainder of the field is enrolled as a buffer practice, if the portion of the field not enrolled in the CRP will be enrolled as part of the buffer practice, and if as determined by CCC:
(ii)
The remainder of the field is enrolled at an annual payment rate not to exceed the maximum annual calculated soil rental rate;
(5)
Be contributing to the degradation of water quality or posing an on-site or off-site environmental threat to water quality if such land remains in production;
(6)
Be devoted to certain covers, as determined by the CCC, that are established and maintained according to the FOTG, provided such acreage is not required to be maintained as such under any life-span obligations, as determined by the CCC;
(7)
Be non-irrigated or irrigated cropland that produces or serves as the recharge area, as determined by the CCC, for saline seeps, or acreage that is functionally related to such saline seeps, or where a rising water table contributes to increased levels of salinity at or near the ground surface;
(8)
Have an EI of greater than or equal to 8 calculated by using the weighted average of the EI's of soil map units within the field;
(11)
Be designated as a cropped wetland and appropriate associated acreage, as determined by the CCC;
(12)
Be cropland that, as determined by the CCC, is associated with noncropped wetlands and would provide significant environmental benefits; or
(13)
Notwithstanding paragraph (a)(1) of this section, be cropland devoted to a perennial crop, as determined by CCC; such cropland will only be eligible for continuous signup practices authorized by § 1410.30 and CREP practices authorized by § 1410.50(b).
(c)
Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, land shall be ineligible for enrollment if, as determined by the CCC, land is:
(2)
Land on which the use of the land is restricted through deed or other restriction prior to enrollment in CRP prohibiting the production of agricultural commodities during any part of the contract term except for eligible land under paragraph (a)(2) and (3) of this section, as determined by CCC; or