203 
of the contract, to refund or accept adjust-
ments to the payments provided to the pro-
ducer, as the Secretary determines to be 
appropriate; 
‘‘(F) include provisions in accordance with 
paragraphs (3) and (4) of this section; and 
‘‘(G) include any additional provisions the 
Secretary determines are necessary to carry out 
the program. 
‘‘(3) CHANGE OF INTEREST IN LAND SUBJECT 
TO A CONTRACT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—At the time of appli-
cation, a producer shall have control of the eli-
gible land to be enrolled in the program. Except 
as provided in subparagraph (B), a change in 
the interest of a producer in eligible land cov-
ered by a contract under the program shall re-
sult in the termination of the contract with re-
gard to that land. 
‘‘(B) 
TRANSFER
OF
DUTIES
AND 
RIGHTS.—Subparagraph (A) shall not apply 
if— 
‘‘(i) within a reasonable period of time 
(as determined by the Secretary) after the 
date of the change in the interest in all or 
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204 
a portion of the land covered by a contract 
under the program, the transferee of the 
land provides written notice to the Sec-
retary that duties and rights under the 
contract have been transferred to, and as-
sumed by, the transferee for the portion of 
the land transferred; 
‘‘(ii) the transferee meets the eligi-
bility requirements of the program; and 
‘‘(iii) the Secretary approves the 
transfer of all duties and rights under the 
contract. 
‘‘(4) MODIFICATION
AND
TERMINATION
OF 
CONTRACTS.— 
‘‘(A) VOLUNTARY MODIFICATION OR TER-
MINATION.—The Secretary may modify or ter-
minate a contract with a producer if— 
‘‘(i) the producer agrees to the modi-
fication or termination; and 
‘‘(ii) the Secretary determines that 
the modification or termination is in the 
public interest. 
‘‘(B) INVOLUNTARY
TERMINATION.—The 
Secretary may terminate a contract if the Sec-
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205 
retary determines that the producer violated the 
contract. 
‘‘(5) REPAYMENT.—If a contract is terminated, 
the Secretary may, consistent with the purposes of 
the program— 
‘‘(A) allow the producer to retain payments 
already received under the contract; or 
‘‘(B) require repayment, in whole or in 
part, of payments received and assess liquidated 
damages. 
‘‘(e) CONTRACT RENEWAL.—At the end of the initial 
5-year contract period, the Secretary may allow the pro-
ducer to renew the contract for 1 additional 5-year period 
if the producer— 
‘‘(1) demonstrates compliance with the terms of 
the existing contract; 
‘‘(2) agrees to adopt and continue to integrate 
conservation activities across the entire agricultural 
operation as determined by the Secretary; and 
‘‘(3) agrees, at a minimum, to meet or exceed 
the stewardship threshold for at least 2 additional 
priority resource concerns on the agricultural oper-
ation by the end of the contract period. 
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206 
‘‘SEC. 1238G. DUTIES OF THE SECRETARY. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To achieve the conservation 
goals of a contract under the conservation stewardship 
program, the Secretary shall— 
‘‘(1) make the program available to eligible pro-
ducers on a continuous enrollment basis with 1 or 
more ranking periods, 1 of which shall occur in the 
first quarter of each fiscal year; 
‘‘(2) identify not less than 5 priority resource 
concerns in a particular watershed or other appro-
priate region or area within a State; and 
‘‘(3) establish a science-based stewardship 
threshold for each priority resource concern identi-
fied under paragraph (2). 
‘‘(b) ALLOCATION TO STATES.—The Secretary shall 
allocate acres to States for enrollment, based— 
‘‘(1) primarily on each State’s proportion of eli-
gible land to the total acreage of eligible land in all 
States; and 
‘‘(2) also on consideration of— 
‘‘(A) the extent and magnitude of the con-
servation needs associated with agricultural 
production in each State; 
‘‘(B) the degree to which implementation 
of the program in the State is, or will be, effec-
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