(a) Any or all of the owner(s) of a farm with generic base acres adjusted as of February 9, 2018, will have a one-time opportunity in an allocation period as announced by FSA, if a covered commodity including upland cotton was planted or prevented from being planted during the 2009 through 2016 crop years, to:

(1) Allocate the farm's generic base acres to seed cotton base acres in a quantity equal to the greater of:

(i) 80 percent of the generic base acres on the farm; or

(ii) The average number of upland cotton acres planted and prevented from being planted on the farm during the 2009 through 2012 crop years, not to exceed the total generic base acres on the farm; or

(2) Allocate base acres for covered commodities, including seed cotton, by applying paragraph (e) of this section.

(b) Under no circumstances will the allocation of generic base acres on a farm as specified in paragraph (a) of this section result in any increase in total base acres on a farm. Additionally, if any owner submits a written statement that conflicts with the allocation request or expresses written disagreement with the allocation filed according to paragraph (a) of this section, no allocation will be approved for the farm unless all the owners of the farm provide FSA with written evidence of the dispute resolution during the allocation period.

(c) FSA will provide the farm operator and owners of record with a summary of all covered commodities P&CP acres and subsequently planted crop acreage for the 2008 through 2012 crop years (as reported to FSA on acreage reports filed with FSA in each of those years). Acreage not reported to FSA by producers will not be included in the summary. The summary of records specified in paragraph (c) of this section is intended to assist owners of farms with the one-time opportunity for generic base acre allocation as provided in this section. Any owner of a farm may also at any time visit the FSA county office and request to obtain a copy of the summary referenced in this paragraph (c).

(d) Owners will be provided a one-time opportunity to update the records identified in paragraph (c) of this section during the allocation period, provided that there are crop insurance records (or other verifiable documentation available to support those requested updates). In the event that an update to a farm's P&CP acres of a covered commodity for 2009 through 2012 causes any payment under another FSA or CCC program to become unearned, the overpayment must be refunded to FSA or CCC in accordance with the rules for that program and the FSA or CCC regulations governing overpayment (part 718 of this title and part 1403 of this chapter).

(e) After an update as specified in paragraph (d) of this section, the owner may allocate the farm's generic base acres during the allocation period based on a proration of each covered commodity's P&CP acres or subsequently planted crop acreage in crop years 2009 through 2012 to the total P&CP acres or subsequently planted crop acreage of all covered commodities during that time.

(f) Owners can allocate generic base acres at any time during the allocation period without receiving or requesting the summary records, and, therefore, failure to receive a summary record from FSA is not grounds for appeal or extension of the allocation period.

(g) The option to allocate generic base acres is an “all or nothing” decision for the farm. Generic base acres will not be retained, partially or in whole. A decision by any owner to allocate generic base acres on a farm in accordance with this section is final and binding if made according to this section during the allocation period unless that allocation is withdrawn in writing by that owner or another owner. If another owner subsequently files a different allocation request in whatever time remains in the stated allocation period or if there are conflicting allocation requests of owners in the allocation period, FSA will not make the allocation unless the conflict is resolved via written agreement between the owners who filed the conflicting requests. In the event that a resolution is not presented, the provisions of paragraph (h) of this section will take effect. In the case of submitting evidence of resolution, the written agreement must be filed with FSA during the allocation period. Any and all updates and allocation requests mentioned in this section are subject to review and approval or disapproval by FSA for CCC.

(h) In the event that an owner fails to make an allocation according to this part and the farm has met the planting requirement in paragraph (a) of this section, the farm will receive an allocation of seed cotton base acres in accordance with paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section.

[83 FR 40657, Aug. 16, 2018, as amended at 84 FR 45889, Sept. 3, 2019]