45-568.02. Alternative conservation programs for agriculture; fifth management period

A. In addition to the provisions of the management plan for the fifth management period prescribed by section 45-568, subsection A, the director shall include in the management plan the historic cropping program prescribed by this section as an alternative agricultural conservation program that achieves conservation equivalent to that required by section 45-568, subsection A.

B. The director shall establish the components of the historic cropping program in the management plan for the fifth management period to assure that conservation equivalent to that required by section 45-568, subsection A will be achieved. In addition to the program components established by the director, the historic cropping program shall include the following provisions:

1. The director shall calculate the maximum annual groundwater allotment as provided in section 45-465.

2. The director shall calculate the irrigation water duty in the same manner as that required by section 45-568, subsection A using an irrigation efficiency of seventy-five per cent. In areas deemed by the director to have limiting soils, the director may use an irrigation efficiency of seventy per cent for the water duty calculation.

3. The flexibility account provisions of section 45-467 apply except as otherwise provided in this section.

4. The director shall not register credits to the flexibility account established under section 45-467 that cause the credit balance to exceed seventy-five per cent of the maximum annual groundwater allotment established pursuant to this subsection.

5. Only owners of an irrigation grandfathered right may apply for participation in the historic cropping program.

C. In the management plan, the director shall establish criteria that the applicant shall satisfy to enter the historic cropping program to assure that conservation equivalent to that required by section 45-568, subsection A will be achieved. An owner of an irrigation grandfathered right may apply to participate in the historic cropping program by filing an application with the director. The director shall not approve an application for the historic cropping program unless the applicant satisfies the entrance criteria established by the director and the following conditions are satisfied:

1. The applicant's accumulation of credits in the applicant's flexibility account under section 45-467 is equal to or less than seventy-five per cent of the farm's maximum annual groundwater allotment established under section 45-568, subsection A. To satisfy this requirement, the applicant may either sell or convey any excess credits as provided by section 45-467, or the applicant may relinquish any excess credits.

2. The applicant's accumulation of debits in the applicant's flexibility account under section 45-467 is equal to or less than twenty-five per cent of the farm's maximum annual groundwater allotment established under section 45-568, subsection A.

D. In the management plan, the director shall establish performance standards that the owner of an irrigation grandfathered right or any person using groundwater pursuant to that right shall satisfy while participating in the historic cropping program to assure that conservation equivalent to that required by section 45-568, subsection A will be achieved. After an owner of an irrigation grandfathered right has been approved for participation in the historic cropping program, the owner of that right, and any person using groundwater pursuant to that right, shall meet both of the following conditions:

1. Comply with the performance standards established by the director.

2. Not accumulate debits to the flexibility account established under section 45-467 that exceed twenty-five per cent of the maximum annual groundwater allotment established under subsection B of this section. The owner of the irrigation grandfathered right, and any person entitled to use groundwater pursuant to that right, violate this section if the debit balance exceeds the amount stated in this paragraph.

E. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 45-467, an owner of an irrigation grandfathered right, while participating in the historic cropping program, shall not convey or sell flexibility account credits from, or purchase flexibility account credits for, the flexibility account regulated by the historic cropping program.

F. The director may include in the adoption of, or a modification to, the management plan for the fifth management period additional alternative agricultural conservation programs that the director determines achieve conservation that is at least equivalent to that required under section 45-568, subsection A, including a cropped acreage program in which the maximum annual groundwater allotment is determined based on the crops grown during the calendar year in which the irrigation efficiency is applied.

G. The director shall include in the adoption of the management plan for the fifth management period a best management practices program that requires the owner of an irrigation grandfathered right and any person using groundwater pursuant to the right to implement specific agricultural conservation practices for water use on the land or farm unit to which the right is appurtenant in lieu of complying with an irrigation water duty and a maximum annual groundwater allotment. The program shall be designed to achieve conservation that is at least equivalent to that required under section 45-568, subsection A.