1416.302—Eligible crops and producers.
(a)
A producer must be an owner, operator, landlord, tenant, or sharecropper who shares in the risk of producing the citrus crop and is entitled to share in the crop available for marketing from the farm or would have shared had the crop been produced. Producers that did not market citrus in both 2004 and 2005 are not eligible, except producers with groves that will be of fruit-bearing age for 2006, but were too immature to producer marketable fruit in 2004 or 2005.
(b)
(1)
Citrus producers will be reimbursed on a per-acre basis for each eligible grove. Payment will be based on the severity of destruction as determined by the paths of the storms and damage estimates by CCC considering levels of loss correlating to the severity of damage caused by maximum sustained winds of the hurricane. The levels of damage that will determine payment rates are as follows:
Tier I—75 percent or greater crop loss and associated tree damage.
Tier II—50 to 74 percent crop loss and associated tree damage/loss.
Tier III—35 to 49 percent crop loss and associated tree damage/loss.
Tier IV —15 percent and greater associated tree damage only.
(2)
Citrus producers who suffered citrus crop production losses and associated fruit-bearing tree damage, including related cleanup and rehabilitation costs, must provide to CCC a certified statement on a CCC-approved form of the level of destruction, the number of acres in the disaster-affected grove, and the geographic location of the losses.
(c)
If the actual level of loss is greater than the level of loss associated with the tier based on the location of the grove, the applicant may submit documentation to CCC to request the grove be placed in the next lower-numbered tier which represents a greater level of loss and a higher payment rate. Regardless of the level of loss incurred, the grove can only be placed in the next lower-numbered tier.
(d)
If the actual level of loss is less than the tier associated with the location band for the grove, the producer shall certify to the lower loss level, which must be 15 percent or more, on the application and a lower payment rate will be used by CCC based upon the tier rate associated with the lower loss level.