(a) Organizations receiving qualification from the Secretary will be entitled to submit requests for funding to the Board pursuant to §1221.112(h). Only one sorghum producer organization per State may be qualified.

(b) State-legislated sorghum promotion, research, and information organizations may request qualification and will be considered first for qualification by the Secretary.

(c) If a State-legislated sorghum promotion, research, and information organization does not elect to seek qualification from the Secretary within a specified time period as determined by the Secretary, or does not meet eligibility requirements as specified by the Secretary, then any State sorghum producer organization whose primary purpose is to represent sorghum producers within a State, or any other State organization that has sorghum producers as part of its membership, may request qualification.

(d) Qualification shall be based, in addition to other available information, upon a factual report submitted by the organization that shall contain information deemed relevant and specified by the Secretary for the making of such determination, including the following:

(1) The geographic territory covered by the organization's active membership;

(2) The nature and size of the organization's active membership, proportion of active membership accounted for by producers, a map showing the sorghum-producing counties in which the organization has active members, the volume of sorghum produced in each such county, the number of sorghum producers in each such county, and the size of the organization's active sorghum producer membership in each such county;

(3) The extent to which the sorghum producer membership of such organization is represented in setting the organization's policies;

(4) Evidence of stability and permanency of the organization;

(5) Sources from which the organizations operating funds are derived;

(6) The functions of the organization; and

(7) The ability and willingness of the organization to further the purpose and objectives of the Act.

(e) The primary consideration in determining the eligibility of an organization shall be whether its sorghum producer membership consists of a sufficiently large number of sorghum producers who produce a relatively significant volume of sorghum to reasonably warrant its qualification to submit requests for funding to the Board. Any sorghum producer organization found eligible by the Secretary under this section will be qualified by the Secretary, and the Secretary's determination as to eligibility shall be final.

[73 FR 25407, May 6, 2008, as amended at 83 FR 35106, July 25, 2018]