(a) Aggregate payment limitation.

(1) Notwithstanding the payment limitation in §1466.24, the total amount of payments paid to a person or legal entity under this subpart, during the period of fiscal years 2019 through 2023, may not exceed an aggregate of $200,000, directly or indirectly.

(2) Payments received for technical assistance will be excluded from the limitation in paragraph (a)(1) of this section.

(3) The limitation in paragraph (a)(1) of this section cannot be waived.

(b) Restrictions and exceptions. Except as otherwise indicated in paragraph (a) of this section, incentive contracts are subject to the payment restrictions and exceptions as set forth in §1466.24.

(c) Implementation payments. The payment rates for implementation of incentive practices shall be identical to the payment rates for practice implementation as set forth in §1466.23.

(d) Annual payments. In addition to the payment for implementation set forth in paragraph (c) of this section, NRCS may award annual payments through incentive contracts to compensate the participant for up to 100 percent of the costs of—

(1) O&M of the incentive practice; and

(2) Income foregone by the participant, including payments to address, as appropriate—

(i) Increased economic risk,

(ii) Loss in revenue due to anticipated reductions in yield, and

(iii) Economic losses during transition to a resource-conserving cropping system, resource-conserving crop rotation, or resource-conserving land uses.