Current through February 24, 2025
(1) GENERAL. A landowner engaged in
agricultural practices in this state is not required to do any of the
following, under s.
ATCP 50.04, unless the landowner receives a bona fide offer
of cost-sharing:
(a) Discontinue or modify
cropping practices on existing cropland. In this paragraph, "existing cropland"
has the meaning given in s.
NR 151.09 (4)
(b).
(b) Discontinue or modify an existing
livestock facility or operation. In this paragraph, "existing livestock
facility or operation" has the meaning given in s.
NR 151.095 (5)
(b).
(2) COST-SHARE AMOUNT. A cost-share offer
under sub. (1) shall cover at least 70% of the landowner's cost to install and
maintain each required conservation practice, or 90% of the landowner's cost if
there is an economic hardship under s.
ATCP 50.42 (4).
(3) LANDOWNER'S COST. A landowner's cost to
install and maintain a conservation practice includes all of the following that
apply:
(a) The landowner's reasonable and
necessary expenditures to install and maintain the conservation practice. This
includes eligible installation costs identified in subch. VIII, and costs for
engineering services under s.
ATCP 50.40 (7).
(b) The reasonable value of necessary labor,
equipment, and supplies provided by the landowner in the installation and
maintenance of the conservation practice for the period required under subch.
VIII or specified in the contract. This does not include normal operating
routines such as clean-outs of barnyards, storage facilities, and
gutters.
(d) The landowner's cost
to take or keep land out of agricultural production, if the landowner must take
or keep more than 1/2 acre out of agricultural production in order to
install or maintain the conservation practice. The landowner's cost, determined
on the date of the cost-share contract, equals the sum of the annual costs that
the landowner will incur over the maintenance period specified in the
cost-share contract. The landowner's annual cost, for each year of the
maintenance period, equals the number of affected acres multiplied by the
per-acre weighted average soil rental rate in the county on the date of the
cost-share contract. This paragraph does not apply to land directly occupied by
a facility or structure, such as a manure storage facility, that a landowner
installs as part of the conservation practice.
(4) RIPARIAN LAND TAKEN OUT OF PRODUCTION;
CREP-EQUIVALENT PAYMENT.
(a) If a landowner
must take or keep more than 1/2 acre of riparian land out of agricultural
production in order to install or maintain a conservation practice, the
cost-share offer under sub. (1) for that conservation practice shall be at
least equal to the amount that would be offered under the CREP program if the
affected lands were enrolled in that program, regardless of whether the lands
are actually eligible for the CREP program.
(b) Paragraph (a) does not apply unless the
landowner agrees to keep the land out of agricultural production for 15 years,
or in perpetuity, under contract terms equivalent to those that apply under the
CREP program.
(c) Paragraph (a)
does not apply to a cost-share offer made after the CREP program
expires.
(d) Paragraph (a) does not
apply to land directly occupied by a facility or structure, such as a manure
storage facility, that a landowner installs as part of the conservation
practice.
(5) EXEMPTIONS.
The cost-sharing requirement under sub. (1) does not apply to any of the
following:
(a) A conservation practice that
has already been cost-shared for at least 10 years. This exemption does not
apply to costs under sub. (3) (d).
(b) The following conservation practices if
those practices have already been cost-shared for 4 years:
1. Cover crops, as defined in s.
ATCP 50.68 (1).
2. Nutrient management, as defined in s.
ATCP 50.78 (1).
3. Residue management, as defined in s.
ATCP 50.82 (1).
4. Conservation crop rotation, as defined in
s.
ATCP 50.668 (1).
(c) Conservation practices or costs for which
cost-sharing is prohibited under s.
ATCP 50.40 (3) (b) or subch.
VIII.
(d) Conservation practices or
costs to correct a landowner's criminal or grossly negligent discharge of
pollutants to waters of the state.
(e) Conservation practices required by a
WPDES permit issued under ch. NR 243.
(6) COMPLIANCE ACTIONS NOT AFFECTED.
Subsection (1) does not limit any of the following:
(a) An emergency or interim response to a
pollution discharge, to prevent or mitigate imminent harm to waters of the
state.
(b) County action under s.
ATCP 50.16 (6) to suspend a landowner's
eligibility for farmland preservation tax credits, if the landowner fails to
comply with conservation standards under s.
ATCP 50.16 (1).
(c) Enforcement of an existing cost-share
contract.
(7) COST-SHARE
GRANT SOURCES. A grant from any public or private source, or combination of
sources, may be counted as part of a cost-share grant under sub. (1). A loan is
not a grant.
