(a) The Chief shall, in consultation with the State Technical Committee, develop a set of high priority areas for each State.

(b) The set of high priority areas described in paragraph (a) of this section must encompass every region within the State.

(c) A high priority area may encompass an entire State or overlap with other high priority areas such that a given parcel of land may exist in multiple high priority areas.

(d) The Chief, in consultation with the State Technical Committee, shall identify up to three priority resource concerns for each land use within a given high priority area.

(e) An identification under paragraph (d) of this section of a priority resource concern for one land use shall not preclude NRCS from identifying the same priority resource concern for a different land use within the same high priority area.

(f) NRCS shall identify which practices qualify as incentive practices for each land use within each high priority area based on the priority resource concern(s) identified for that land use.

(g) NRCS shall make public all determinations made under this section.

(a) NRCS will give priority to applications that address eligible priority resource concerns identified under § 1466.40.

(b) NRCS will evaluate applications relative to other applications for similar agriculture and forest operations.

(c) NRCS shall not select an application for an incentive contract that does not contain at least one qualifying incentive practice as identified under § 1466.40.

(a) Requirement for a contract. (1) In order for a participant to receive incentive payments, the participant must enter into an incentive contract agreeing to implement one or more incentive practices.

(2) Payment for technical services may be included in the contract pursuant to requirements of this part.

(b) Incentive contract terms. An incentive contract will—

(1) Identify all incentive practices to be implemented, the timing of practice installation, responsibilities of the participant, the O&M requirements for the practices, and applicable payments allocated to the practices under the contract;

(2) Have a period as set forth in § 1466.43;

(3) Specify any other provision determined necessary or appropriate by NRCS to achieve the technical requirements of a practice or purposes of the program.

(c) Termination of the incentive contract. NRCS may terminate an incentive contract consistent with the provisions of § 1466.26.

(a) NRCS shall apply science-based criteria to determine an appropriate contract period to achieve desired conservation benefits.

(b) The period determined as appropriate under paragraph (a) of this section shall not be less than 5 years nor exceed 10 years.

(a) Aggregate payment limitation. (1) Notwithstanding the payment limitation in § 1466.24, the total amount of payments paid to a person or legal entity under this subpart, during the period of fiscal years 2019 through 2023, may not exceed an aggregate of $200,000, directly or indirectly.

(2) Payments received for technical assistance will be excluded from the limitation in paragraph (a)(1) of this section.

(3) The limitation in paragraph (a)(1) of this section cannot be waived.

(b) Restrictions and exceptions. Except as otherwise indicated in paragraph (a) of this section, incentive contracts are subject to the payment restrictions and exceptions as set forth in § 1466.24.

(c) Implementation payments. The payment rates for implementation of incentive practices shall be identical to the payment rates for practice implementation as set forth in § 1466.23.

(d) Annual payments. In addition to the payment for implementation set forth in paragraph (c) of this section, NRCS may award annual payments through incentive contracts to compensate the participant for up to 100 percent of the costs of—

(1) O&M of the incentive practice; and

(2) Income foregone by the participant, including payments to address, as appropriate—

(i) Increased economic risk,

(ii) Loss in revenue due to anticipated reductions in yield, and

(iii) Economic losses during transition to a resource-conserving cropping system, resource-conserving crop rotation, or resource-conserving land uses.