U.S. CODE

U.S. Code

§ 7334. Flood risk reduction

(a) In general

During fiscal years 1996 through 2002, the Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”) may enter into a contract with a producer on a farm who has contract acreage under the Agricultural Market Transition Act [7 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.] that is frequently flooded.

(b) Duties of producers

Under the terms of the contract, with respect to acres that are subject to the contract, the producer must agree to—

(1) the termination of any contract acreage and production flexibility contract under the Agricultural Market Transition Act [7 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.];

(2) forgo loans for contract commodities, oilseeds, and extra long staple cotton;

(3) not apply for crop insurance issued or reinsured by the Secretary;

(4) comply with applicable highly erodible land and wetlands conservation compliance requirements established under title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3801 et seq.);

(5) not apply for any conservation program payments from the Secretary;

(6) not apply for disaster program benefits provided by the Secretary; and

(7) refund the payments, with interest, issued under the flood risk reduction contract to the Secretary, if the producer violates the terms of the contract or if the producer transfers the property to another person who violates the contract.

In return for a contract entered into by a producer under this section, the Secretary shall pay the producer an amount that is not more than 95 percent of projected contract payments under the Agricultural Market Transition Act [7 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.] that the Secretary estimates the producer would otherwise have received during the period beginning at the time the contract is entered into under this section and ending September 30, 2002.

(d) Commodity Credit Corporation

The Secretary shall carry out the program authorized by this section (other than subsection (e) of this section) through the Commodity Credit Corporation.

(e) Additional payments

(1) In general

Subject to the availability of advanced appropriations, the Secretary may make payments to a producer described in subsection (a) of this section, in addition to the payments provided under subsection (c) of this section, to offset other estimated Federal Government outlays on frequently flooded land.

(2) Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out paragraph (1).

(f) Limitation on payments

Amounts made available for production flexibility contracts under section 7213 of this title shall be reduced by an amount that is equal to the contract payments that producers forgo under subsection (b)(1) of this section.

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