Except as provided in subsection (c), a transfer of (or change in) the interest of an owner or producer subject to a contract in the contract acreage covered by the contract shall result in the termination of the contract with respect to the acreage, unless the transferee or owner of the acreage agrees to assume all obligations under the contract. The termination shall be effective on the date of the transfer or change.
At the request of the transferee or owner, the Secretary may modify the contract if the modifications are consistent with the objectives of this subchapter, as determined by the Secretary.
If an owner or producer who is entitled to a contract payment dies, becomes incompetent, or is otherwise unable to receive the contract payment, the Secretary shall make the payment, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary.
7 U.S.C. § 7217
- Secretary
- The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Agriculture.
- contract acreage
- The term "contract acreage" means 1 or more crop acreage bases established for contract commodities under title V of the Agricultural Act of 1949 ( 7 U.S.C. 1461 et seq.) that would have been in effect for the 1996 crop (but for suspension under section 7301(b)(1) of this title).
- contract payment
- The term "contract payment" means a payment made under this subchapter1 pursuant to a contract.
- producer
- The term "producer" means an owner, operator, landlord, tenant, or sharecropper who shares in the risk of producing a crop and who is entitled to share in the crop available for marketing from the farm, or would have shared had the crop been produced. In determining whether a grower of hybrid seed is a producer, the Secretary shall not take into consideration the existence of a hybrid seed contract.
- contract
- The terms "contract" and "production flexibility contract" mean a production flexibility contract entered into under section 7211 of this title.