(a) To be eligible for the Transition Incentives Program, all the following must be met:

(1) The land must be enrolled in CRP;

(2) The conditions for the timing of the sale or lease of the land and to whom it must be sold or leased are:

(i) Beginning on the date of the end of the CRP contract period, the land must be sold or leased (under a long-term lease, or a lease with an option to purchase the land, including a lease with a term of less than 5 years and an option to purchase the land) to a beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher who will return some or all of the land to production using sustainable grazing or crop production methods; and

(ii) The sale or lease, as applicable, must take effect on the day immediately after the end of the CRP contract period;

(3) The CRP contract is modified in accordance with §1410.33(a)(4);

(4) The land is not subject to an easement or other restriction that prohibits the use of the land allowed under this section; and

(5) The beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers must:

(i) Certify that they meet the definition of either a beginning or veteran farmer or rancher as defined in part 718 of this title, or a socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher as defined in §1410.2;

(ii) Obtain an approved conservation plan prior to approval of the Transition Incentives Program contract; and

(iii) Implement sustainable grazing or crop production on land not re-enrolled in CRP in compliance with the conservation plan by the time specified in the conservation plan.

(b) Beginning in the last 2 years of the CRP contract period, the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher may:

(1) In conjunction with the contract participants, make conservation and land improvements, including preparing to plant a crop, that are consistent with the conservation plan; and

(2) Begin the organic certification process under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.

(c) Eligible beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers may be eligible immediately to re-enroll certain partial field conservation practices in CRP, in accordance with the conservation plan and the provisions of this part, following the expiration of the CRP contract, provided that the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher has control of the land and meets all other qualifying conditions specified in this part.

(d) Eligible beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers will be eligible to enroll land in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program or the Conservation Stewardship Program, as specified in parts 1466 and 1470 of this chapter, provided that their offer to enroll otherwise meets all program conditions, and provided that the CRP contract has expired and the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher is either leasing or has possession of the property.

(e) As an incentive for selling or leasing land to a beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher who is not a family member of the previous participants, CCC will pay 2 years of additional CRP annual rental payments at the same contract rate to the previous participants. The previous participants must certify in writing that the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher is not a family member.

(f) The previous participants and the eligible beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher must agree to be jointly and severally responsible for complying with both the provisions of the Transition Incentives Program contract and the provisions of this part, and must also agree to be jointly and severally responsible for any payment adjustments that may result from violations of the terms or conditions of the Transition Incentives Program contract or this part.