511.42 



{511.42 Conservation plan and system requirements. 



(a) Acceptable conservation systems are required to be used to 

 produce agricultural commodities on highly erodible cropland fields 

 for the person to remain eligible for USDA program benefits, unless 

 the person is actively applying an approved conservation plan that 

 will be fully applied by December 31, 1994. 



(b) Acceptable conservation systems are resource management 

 systems (RMS) , basic conservation systems (BCS) , and alternative 

 conservation systems (ACS) . All RMS, BCS, and ACS that are included 

 in a conservation plan must be described in the technical guide for 

 that field office. 



(c) The planned conservation system must provide for a 

 significant reduction in erosion from the level (the "non-treatment" 

 condition) that would occur if conservation measures were not 

 applied. The plan must document the erosion rate on each field that 

 existed before development of the FSA plan (the pre-plan condition) . 

 The plan must also document the erosion rate that is predicted with 

 the planned conservation system applied on each field (the post-plan 

 condition) . 



(d) The acceptable maximum average annual erosion rate on any 

 HEL field shall not exceed the average annual erosion rate resulting 

 from the application of an alternative conservation system described 

 in the FOTG. 



(e) An approved conservation plan that is fully applied results 

 in an approved conservation system on the land. 



(f) Conservation plans developed for highly erodible cropland 

 fields that were converted from native vegetation (rangeland or 

 woodland) must include erosion control to the level specified by a 

 resource management system or a basic conservation system. See Part 

 517, Glossary, for applicable definitions of rangeland and woodland. 



(g) Each field that was converted from native vegetation will 

 be identified with the following statement in the plan doc\iment: 



"This field was converted from native vegetation in 19 , and the 



erosion rate for the approved conservation system for this field must 

 not exceed the soil loss tolerance for the soils in this field." 



(h) Conservation plans developed for all other highly erodible 

 cropland fields may contain RMS, BCS, or ACS for the soil and crop 

 conditions of the planned fields. A person may include ACS in the 

 conservation plan to be in compliance with FSA requirements. 



(i) All conservation plans will conform with Section III of the 

 FOTG that is in effect at the time the plan is developed or revised. 



511-12 



(180-V-NFSAM, Second Ed., Amend. 6, May 1991) 



