To be eligible for the Transition Incentives Program, the retired or retiring owner or operator must:

Have land that is expiring under an existing CRP contract with a 50 percent or greater interest as provided at § 1410.42 (c);

Sell or lease (under a qualifying irrevocable lease of at least 5 years in length) expiring CRP 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;

Modify the CRP contract in accordance with § 1410.33(a)(4);

Allow the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher to begin the organic certification process under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 during the last year of the contract, if requested by that farmer or rancher;

Allow the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher to develop a conservation plan for the land; and

Allow the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher to install conservation practices and initiate land improvements, including preparing to plant a crop, that are consistent with the conservation plan during the last year of the contract.

To be eligible for participation in the Transition Incentives Program, the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers must:

Certify that they meet the definition in § 1410.2 of either a beginning, veteran, or rancher or a socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher;

Obtain and implement a conservation plan; and

Implement sustainable grazing or crop production in compliance with the conservation plan by the time specified in the plan.

Eligible beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers will be eligible immediately to reenroll 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 of the qualified retired or retiring owner or operator, provided that the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher has control of the property and meets all other qualifying conditions of CRP, as specified in this part.

Eligible beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers will be eligible to enroll land in the Conservation Stewardship Program or the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, as specified in parts 1470 and 1466 of this chapter, provided that their offer to enroll otherwise meets all program conditions, and provided that the CRP contract of the retired or retiring owner or operator has expired and the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher has sufficient control of the property.

As an incentive for selling or leasing land to a beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher who is not a family member, CCC will pay 2 years of additional CRP annual rental payments at the same contract rate to a retired or retiring owner or operator. The retired or retiring owner or operator must certify that the beginning, veteran, or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher is not a family member.

The eligible retired or retiring owner or operator 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 agreement 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 agreement or this part.