
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 7USC1344b]

 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
             CHAPTER 35--AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 1938
 
 SUBCHAPTER II--LOANS, PARITY PAYMENTS, CONSUMER SAFEGUARDS, MARKETING 
                   QUOTAS, AND MARKETING CERTIFICATES
 
                        Part B--Marketing Quotas
 
                  subpart iv--marketing quotas--cotton
 
Sec. 1344b. Sale, lease, or transfer of cotton acreage 
        allotments
        

(a) Authority for calendar years 1966 through 1970; transfer periods

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary, if he 
determines that it will not impair the effective operation of the 
program involved, (1) may permit the owner and operator of any farm for 
which a cotton acreage allotment is established to sell or lease all or 
any part or the right to all or any part of such allotment (excluding 
that part of the allotment which the Secretary determines was 
apportioned to the farm from the national acreage reserve) to any other 
owner or operator of a farm for transfer to such farm; (2) may permit 
the owner of a farm to transfer all or any part of such allotment to any 
other farm owned or controlled by him; Provided, That the authority 
granted under this section may be exercised for the calendar years 1966 
through 1970, but all transfers hereunder shall be for such period of 
years as the parties thereto may agree.

(b) Requisite conditions for transfer of acreage allotments

    Transfers under this section shall be subject to the following 
conditions: (i) no allotment shall be transferred to a farm in another 
State or to a person for use in another State; (ii) no farm allotment 
may be sold or leased for transfer to a farm in another county unless 
the producers of cotton in the county from which transfer is being made 
have voted in a referendum within three years of the date of such 
transfer, by a two-thirds majority of the producers participating in 
such referendum, to permit the transfer of allotments to farms outside 
the county, which referendum, insofar as practicable, shall be held in 
conjunction with the marketing quota referendum for the commodity; (iii) 
no transfer of an allotment from a farm subject to a mortgage or other 
lien shall be permitted unless the transfer is agreed to by the 
lienholder; (iv) no sale of a farm allotment shall be permitted if any 
sale of cotton allotment to the same farm has been made within the three 
immediately preceding crop years; (v) the total cotton allotment for any 
farm to which allotment is transferred by sale or lease shall not exceed 
the farm acreage allotment (excluding reapportioned acreage) established 
for such farm for 1965 by more than one hundred acres; (vi) no cotton in 
excess of the remaining acreage allotment on the farm shall be planted 
on any farm from which the allotment (or part of an allotment) is sold 
for a period of five years following such sale, nor shall any cotton in 
excess of the remaining acreage allotment on the farm be planted on any 
farm from which the allotment (or part of an allotment) is leased during 
the period of such lease, and the producer on such farm shall so agree 
as a condition precedent to the Secretary's approval of any such sale or 
lease; and (vii) no transfer of allotment shall be effective until a 
record thereof is filed with the county committee of the county to which 
such transfer is made and such committee determines that the transfer 
complies with the provisions of this section. Such record may be filed 
with such committee only during the period beginning June 1 and ending 
December 31.

(c) Extent of estate transferred

    The transfer of an allotment shall have the effect of transferring 
also the acreage history, farm base, and marketing quota attributable to 
such allotment and if the transfer is made prior to the determination of 
the allotment for any year the transfer shall include the right of the 
owner or operator to have an allotment determined for the farm for such 
year: Provided, That in the case of a transfer by lease, the amount of 
the allotment shall be considered for purposes of determining allotments 
after the expiration of the lease to have been planted on the farm from 
which such allotment is transferred.

(d) Period of ineligibility of land for new allotment

    The land in the farm from which the entire cotton allotment and 
acreage history have been transferred shall not be eligible for a new 
farm cotton allotment during the five years following the year in which 
such transfer is made.

(e) Transfer of allotments established under minimum allotment 
        provisions

    The transfer of a portion of a farm allotment which was established 
under minimum farm allotment provisions for cotton or which operates to 
bring the farm within the minimum farm allotment provision for cotton 
shall cause the minimum farm allotment or base to be reduced to an 
amount equal to the allotment remaining on the farm after such transfer.

(f) Rules and regulations

    The Secretary shall prescribe regulations for the administration of 
this section, which shall include provisions for adjusting the size of 
the allotment transferred if the farm to which the allotment is 
transferred has a substantially higher yield per acre and such other 
terms and conditions as he deems necessary.

(g) Adjustment upon transfer of land covered by conservation reserve 
        contract

    If the sale or lease occurs during a period in which the farm is 
covered by a conservation reserve contract, cropland conversion 
agreement, cropland adjustment agreement, or other similar land 
utilization agreement, the rates of payment provided for in the contract 
or agreement of the farm from which the transfer is made shall be 
subject to an appropriate adjustment, but no adjustment shall be made in 
the contract or agreement of the farm to which the allotment is 
transferred.

(h) Exchange of cotton acreage allotments for rice acreage allotments

    The Secretary shall by regulations authorize the exchange between 
farms in the same county, or between farms in adjoining counties within 
a State, of cotton acreage allotment for rice acreage allotment. Any 
such exchange shall be made on the basis of application filed with the 
county committee by the owners and operators of the farms, and the 
transfer of allotment between the farms shall include transfer of the 
related acreage history for the commodity. The exchange shall be acre 
for acre or on such other basis as the Secretary determines is fair and 
reasonable, taking into consideration the comparative productivity of 
the soil for the farms involved and other relevant factors. No farm from 
which the entire cotton or rice allotment has been transferred shall be 
eligible for an allotment of cotton or rice as a new farm within a 
period of five crop years after the date of such exchange.

(i) Applicability to cotton restricted to upland cotton

    The provisions of this section relating to cotton shall apply only 
to upland cotton.

(Feb. 16, 1938, ch. 30, title III, Sec. 344a, as added Pub. L. 89-321, 
title IV, Sec. 405, Nov. 3, 1965, 79 Stat. 1197; amended Pub. L. 90-559, 
Sec. 1(2), Oct. 11, 1968, 82 Stat. 996; Pub. L. 91-524, title VI, 
Sec. 601(3)(1), Nov. 30, 1970, 84 Stat. 1372; Pub. L. 93-86, 
Sec. 1(19)(C), (D), Aug. 10, 1973, 87 Stat. 233.)


                               Amendments

    1973--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 93-86 struck out ``for which a farm base 
acreage allotment is established (other than pursuant to section 
1350(e)(1)(A) of this title)'' after ``to any other owner or operator of 
a farm'' and substituted ``1978'' for ``1974''.
    1970--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 91-524 temporarily directed Secretary to 
permit certain types of transfers of all or part of farm base acreage 
allotments between farms in same State. See Effective and Termination 
Dates of 1970 Amendment note below.
    1968--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 90-559 provided for a one year extension, 
substituting ``1966 through 1970'' for ``1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969''.


                    Effective Date of 1973 Amendment

    Section 1(19)(C) of Pub. L. 93-86 provided that the amendment made 
by that section is effective beginning with 1974 crop.


            Effective and Termination Dates of 1970 Amendment

    Section 601(3) of Pub. L. 91-524, as amended by section 1(19)(A) of 
Pub. L. 93-86, provided that the amendment made by that section is 
effective only with respect to 1971 through 1977 crops.


                       Inapplicability of Section

    Section inapplicable to 1984 and subsequent crops of extra long 
staple cotton, see section 3 of Pub. L. 98-88, set out as a note under 
section 1342 of this title.
    Section inapplicable to 1996 through 2002 crops of loan commodities, 
peanuts, and sugar and inapplicable to milk during period beginning Apr. 
4, 1996, and ending Dec. 31, 2002, see section 7301(a)(1)(A) of this 
title.
    Section 601(3)(2) of Pub. L. 91-524, as amended by section 1(19)(A) 
of Pub. L. 93-86, provided that: ``Subdivisions (ii), (iv), (v), and 
(vi) of subsection (b) [of this section], the last sentence of 
subsection (b) [of this section] and subsections (e) and (h) [of this 
section] shall not be applicable to the 1971 through 1977 crops: 
Provided, That no farm allotment may be sold or leased for transfer to a 
farm in another county unless the Agricultural Stabilization and 
Conservation Committee established pursuant to section 8(b) of the Soil 
Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as amended [16 U.S.C. 590h(b)], 
for the county from which such transfers are being made (1) finds that a 
demand for such acreage allotments no longer exists in such county and 
(2) approves any transfers of allotments to farms outside such county.''
