7 U.S.C. § 9013 (AGRICULTURE)
§ 9013. Payment yields
(a) Establishment and purpose
For the purpose of making price loss coverage payments under section 9016 of this title, the Secretary shall provide for the establishment of a yield for each farm for any designated oilseed for which a payment yield was not established under section 8712 of this title in accordance with this section.
(b) Payment yields for designated oilseeds
(1) Determination of average yield
In the case of designated oilseeds, the Secretary shall determine the average yield per planted acre for the designated oilseed on a farm for the 1998 through 2001 crop years, excluding any crop year in which the acreage planted to the designated oilseed was zero.
(2) Adjustment for payment yield
(A) In general
The payment yield for a farm for a designated oilseed shall be equal to the product of the following:
(i) The average yield for the designated oilseed determined under paragraph (1).
(ii) The ratio resulting from dividing the national average yield for the designated oilseed for the 1981 through 1985 crops by the national average yield for the designated oilseed for the 1998 through 2001 crops.
(B) No national average yield information available
To the extent that national average yield information for a designated oilseed is not available, the Secretary shall use such information as the Secretary determines to be fair and equitable to establish a national average yield under this section.
(3) Use of county average yield
If the yield per planted acre for a crop of a designated oilseed for a farm for any of the 1998 through 2001 crop years was less than 75 percent of the county yield for that designated oilseed, the Secretary shall assign a yield for that crop year equal to 75 percent of the county yield for the purpose of determining the average under paragraph (1).
(c) Effect of lack of payment yield
(1) Establishment by Secretary
In the case of a covered commodity on a farm for which base acres have been established or that is planted on generic base acres, if no payment yield is otherwise established for the covered commodity on the farm, the Secretary shall establish an appropriate payment yield for the covered commodity on the farm under paragraph (2).
(2) Use of similarly situated farms
To establish an appropriate payment yield for a covered commodity on a farm as required by paragraph (1), the Secretary shall take into consideration the farm program payment yields applicable to that covered commodity for similarly situated farms. The use of such data in an appeal, by the Secretary or by the producer, shall not be subject to any other provision of law.
(d) Single opportunity to update yields used to determine price loss coverage payments
(1) Election to update
At the sole discretion of the owner of a farm, the owner of a farm shall have a 1-time opportunity to update, on a covered commodity-by-covered-commodity basis, the payment yield that would otherwise be used in calculating any price loss coverage payment for each covered commodity on the farm for which the election is made.
(2) Time for election
The election under paragraph (1) shall be made at a time and manner to be in effect beginning with the 2014 crop year as determined by the Secretary.
(3) Method of updating yields
If the owner of a farm elects to update yields under this subsection, the payment yield for a covered commodity on the farm, for the purpose of calculating price loss coverage payments only, shall be equal to 90 percent of the average of the yield per planted acre for the crop of the covered commodity on the farm for the 2008 through 2012 crop years, as determined by the Secretary, excluding any crop year in which the acreage planted to the crop of the covered commodity was zero.
(4) Use of county average yield
If the yield per planted acre for a crop of the covered commodity for a farm for any of the 2008 through 2012 crop years was less than 75 percent of the average of the 2008 through 2012 county yield for that commodity, the Secretary shall assign a yield for that crop year equal to 75 percent of the average of the 2008 through 2012 county yield for the purposes of determining the average yield under paragraph (3).
(Pub. L. 113–79, title I, § 1113, Feb. 7, 2014, 128 Stat. 664.)