(a) Submission of contract applications. Applicants may submit an application for the agricultural operation to enroll all of their eligible land into CSP on a continuous basis.
(b) Stewardship threshold requirement. To be eligible to participate in CSP, an applicant must submit to NRCS for approval, a contract offer for the agricultural operation that:
(1) Demonstrates that the applicant's conservation activities, at the time of contract offer, meet or exceed a stewardship threshold for at least two priority resource concerns; and
(2) Would, at a minimum, meet or exceed a stewardship threshold for at least one additional priority resource concern by the end of the conservation stewardship contract by:
(i) Installing and adopting additional conservation activities, and
(ii) Improving, maintaining, and managing existing conservation activities across the entire agricultural operation in a manner that increases or extends the conservation benefits in place at the time the contract application is accepted by NRCS;
(3) Provides a map, aerial photograph, or overlay that:
(i) Identifies the applicant's agricultural operation, and
(ii) Delineates eligible land with associated acreage amounts.
(c) Evaluation of contract applications. NRCS will conduct one or more ranking periods each fiscal year.
(1) To the extent practicable, one ranking period will occur in the first quarter of the fiscal year;
(2) In evaluating CSP applications, NRCS will rank applications based on the following factors, to the maximum extent practicable:
(i) Level of conservation treatment on all applicable priority resource concerns at the time of application,
(ii) Degree to which the proposed conservation activities effectively increase conservation performance,
(iii) Number of applicable priority resource concerns proposed to be treated to meet or exceed the stewardship threshold by the end of the contract,
(iv) Extent to which other priority resource concerns will be addressed to meet or exceed the stewardship threshold by the end of the contract period, and
(v) Extent to which priority resource concerns will be addressed when transitioning from the conservation reserve program to agricultural production;
(3) In the event that application ranking scores from paragraph (2) above are similar, the application that represents the least cost to the program will be given higher priority; and
(4) NRCS may not assign 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.
(d) Weighting of ranking factors. The weight given to each ranking factor may be adjusted to achieve program objectives, as determined by the Chief.
(e) National, State, and local priorities. The Chief may develop and use additional criteria that are determined necessary to ensure that national, State, and local priority resource concerns are effectively addressed.
(f) Ranking pools. Ranking pools will be established in accordance with Sec. 1470.2(e)(1).
(1) NIPF will compete in ranking pools separate from other eligible land. An applicant with both NIPF and other eligible land will submit one application for NIPF and one application for all other eligible land.
(2) An applicant with an agricultural operation that crosses ranking pool boundaries will make application and be ranked in the ranking pool where the largest acreage portion of their operation occurs.
(3) Within each State or established ranking pool, NRCS will address conservation access for certain farmers or ranchers, including:
(i) Socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers,
(ii) Beginning farmers or ranchers, and
(iii) Producers who are veteran farmers or ranchers.
(g) Application pre-approval. NRCS will make application pre-approval determinations during established ranking periods based on eligibility and ranking score.
(h) Field verification. NRCS will conduct onsite field verification prior to entering into an agreement to substantiate the accuracy of the information provided by pre-approved applicants during the application process.