The regulations in this part will be administered under the general supervision and direction of the Chief, NRCS, who is a Vice President of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).

No delegation in the administration of this part to lower organizational levels will preclude the Chief from making any determinations under this part, re-delegating to other organizational levels, or from reversing or modifying any determination made under this part. The Chief may modify or waive a nonstatutory, discretionary provision of this part if the Chief determines:

The application of that provision to a particular limited situation to be inappropriate and inconsistent with the purposes of the program; or

The waiver of such discretionary provision is necessary to further the purposes of CSP under the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) authorized by Subtitle I of Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985. To assist in RCPP implementation, the Chief may also waive the applicability of the adjusted gross income (AGI) limitation in section 1001D(b)(2) of the Food Security Act of 1985 for participating producers if the Chief determines that the waiver is necessary to fulfill RCPP objectives.

To achieve the conservation goals of CSP, NRCS will:

Make the program available nationwide to eligible applicants on a continuous application basis with one or more ranking periods to determine enrollments. One of the ranking periods will occur in the first quarter of each fiscal year to the extent practicable.

Establish a science-based stewardship threshold for each priority resource concern at the level of management required to conserve and improve the quality and condition of a natural resource.

During the period beginning on February 7, 2014, and ending on September 30, 2022, NRCS will, to the maximum extent practicable:

Enroll in CSP an additional 10,000,000 acres for each fiscal year; and

Manage CSP to achieve a national average rate of $18 per acre, which includes the Federal costs of all financial and technical assistance and any other expenses associated with program enrollment and participation.

NRCS will develop State level technical, outreach, and program materials, with the advice of the State Technical Committee and local working groups, including:

Establishment of ranking pools appropriate for the conduct of CSP within the State to ensure program availability and better distribution of the funds. Ranking pools may be based on watersheds, geographic areas, or other appropriate regions within a State and may consider high-priority regional and State-level resource concern areas;

Identification of not less than five applicable priority resource concerns in particular geographic areas, or other appropriate regions within a State; and

Identification of resource-conserving crops that will be part of resource-conserving crop rotations.

NRCS may enter into agreements with Federal, State, and local agencies, conservation districts, Indian Tribes, private entities, and individuals to assist NRCS with program implementation.