(a) For a farm that has seed cotton base acres as adjusted, in excess of zero acres, an owner of the farm has a one-time opportunity in a specified period, as announced by FSA, to update the PLC yield equal to 90 percent of the seed cotton's 2013 through 2017 average yield per planted acre, excluding from the average any year that no acreage was planted to upland cotton, times 2.4. If the yield per planted acre in any of the years 2013 through 2017 is less than 75 percent of the average of the county yield, then 75 percent of the average of the 2013 through 2017 county yields will be substituted for that year, excluding from the average any year when no acreage was planted to the covered commodity, multiplied by the ratio obtained by dividing:

(1) The average of the 2008 through 2012 national average yield per planted acre for the covered commodity; by

(2) The average of the 2013 through 2017 national average yield per planted acre for the covered commodity.

(b) The owner of the farm may retain the PLC yield or update the PLC yield.

(c) PLC yields are exclusively used for PLC. However, any owner of a farm can update the seed cotton PLC yield as specified in paragraph (a) of this section, regardless of program election, enrollment, or participation.

(d) A decision by any owner of a farm to update the seed cotton PLC yield as specified in this section is final and binding unless that decision to update the yield is withdrawn by that owner or a different yield update is made by that owner or another owner. If that owner or another owner requests a different PLC yield update for the covered commodity during the yield update period specified in paragraph (a) of this section, that update will become final.

(e) All PLC yield updates are subject to review and approval by FSA as specified in §1412.36. FSA's decision to issue payments based on the PLC yield updated by an owner is subject to verification and spot check by FSA at any time.

(f) Yield updates in this section will be permitted using the owner's certification of yield. The certification is subject to spot check or verification by FSA at any time. If selected for spot check or verification, the owner must submit evidence specified in §1412.35 to support the certified yield.

[83 FR 40658, Aug. 16, 2018, as amended at 84 FR 45890, Sept. 3, 2019]