200 
‘‘(E) the extent to which the actual and 
anticipated conservation benefits from the con-
tract are provided at the least cost relative to 
other similarly beneficial contract offers; and 
‘‘(F) the extent to which priority resource 
concerns will be addressed when transitioning 
from the conservation reserve program to agri-
cultural production. 
‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—The Secretary may not as-
sign a higher priority to any application because the 
applicant is willing to accept a lower payment than 
the applicant would otherwise be eligible to receive. 
‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL
CRITERIA.—The Secretary 
may develop and use such additional criteria that 
the Secretary determines are necessary to ensure 
that national, State, and local priority resource con-
cerns are effectively addressed. 
‘‘(c) ENTERING INTO CONTRACTS.—After a deter-
mination that a producer is eligible for the program under 
subsection (a), and a determination that the contract offer 
ranks sufficiently high under the evaluation criteria under 
subsection (b), the Secretary shall enter into a conserva-
tion stewardship contract with the producer to enroll the 
eligible land to be covered by the contract. 
‘‘(d) CONTRACT PROVISIONS.— 
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‘‘(1) TERM.—A conservation stewardship con-
tract shall be for a term of 5 years. 
‘‘(2) REQUIRED PROVISIONS.—The conservation 
stewardship contract of a producer shall— 
‘‘(A) state the amount of the payment the 
Secretary agrees to make to the producer for 
each year of the conservation stewardship con-
tract under section 1238G(d); 
‘‘(B) require the producer— 
‘‘(i) to implement a conservation stew-
ardship plan that describes the program 
purposes to be achieved through 1 or more 
conservation activities; 
‘‘(ii) to maintain and supply informa-
tion as required by the Secretary to deter-
mine compliance with the conservation 
stewardship plan and any other require-
ments of the program; and 
‘‘(iii) not to conduct any activities on 
the agricultural operation that would tend 
to defeat the purposes of the program; 
‘‘(C) permit all economic uses of the eligi-
ble land that— 
‘‘(i) maintain the agricultural nature 
of the land; and 
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‘‘(ii) are consistent with the conserva-
tion purposes of the conservation steward-
ship contract; 
‘‘(D) include a provision to ensure that a 
producer shall not be considered in violation of 
the contract for failure to comply with the con-
tract due to circumstances beyond the control 
of the producer, including a disaster or related 
condition, as determined by the Secretary; 
‘‘(E) include provisions where upon the 
violation of a term or condition of the contract 
at any time the producer has control of the 
land— 
‘‘(i) if the Secretary determines that 
the violation warrants termination of the 
contract— 
‘‘(I) to forfeit all rights to receive 
payments under the contract; and 
‘‘(II) to refund all or a portion of 
the payments received by the producer 
under the contract, including any in-
terest on the payments, as determined 
by the Secretary; or 
‘‘(ii) if the Secretary determines that 
the violation does not warrant termination 
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