7 C.F.R. § 1410.63 – Permissive uses.

(a) Unless specified in this part or otherwise approved by CCC, no uses of any kind are authorized on CRP acreage during the contract period.
(b) Commercial shooting preserves may be operated on CRP acreage provided:
1. (1) The commercial shooting preserve is licensed by a State agency such as the State fish and wildlife agency or State department of natural resources;
2. (2) The commercial shooting preserve is operated in a manner consistent with the applicable State agency rules governing commercial shooting preserves; and
3. (3) The CRP cover is maintained according to the conservation plan.
(c) No barrier fencing or boundary limitations that prohibit wildlife access to or from the CRP acreage are allowed, unless required by State law.
(d) Wind turbines and associated access to the wind turbines may be installed on CRP acreage in numbers and locations as determined appropriate by CCC considering the location, size, and other physical characteristics of the land, the extent to which the land contains threatened or endangered wildlife and wildlife habitat, and the purposes of CRP, but only in exchange for a 25 percent reduction in the annual rental payment for the acres covered by the wind turbine and associated access acreage.
(e) The sale of carbon, water quality, or environmental credits may be permitted by CCC.
(f) There are specific activities that are permitted on specific land:
1. (1) The permitted activities provisions of paragraphs (f)(2) and (3) of this section do not apply to land enrolled under:
  1. (i) A grassland signup authorized by § 1410.30(c);
  2. (ii) The Soil Health and Income Protection Pilot Program described in § 1410.70;
  3. (iii) The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program described in § 1410.90:
    1. (A) Except for land enrolled under Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program agreements executed before December 20, 2018; provided, that such agreements may be amended by mutual agreement to disallow such otherwise permitted activities; or
    2. (B) Unless the approved Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program agreement under which the land was enrolled specifically permits such activity; and
  4. (iv) A State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement project, unless the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement project under which the land was enrolled specifically permits such activity.
2. (2) The following activities may be permitted on CRP acreage according to an approved conservation plan, without any reduction to the annual rental payment:
  1. (i) Emergency haying, emergency grazing, or emergency use of the forage in response to a localized or regional drought, flooding, wildfire, or other emergency as determined by CCC on all practices, outside the primary nesting season, when:
    1. (A) All or any part of the county in which the CRP acreage is located is designated as D2 (severe drought) or greater according to the United States Drought Monitor;
    2. (B) There is at least a 40 percent loss in forage production in the county in which the CRP acreage is located; or
    3. (C) CCC determines that CRP can assist in the response to a natural disaster event without permanent damage to the established cover;
  2. (ii) Emergency grazing on all practices during the primary nesting season if payments are authorized for the county under the Livestock Forage Disaster Program under part 1416 of this chapter, at 50 percent of the normal carrying capacity determined in accordance with part 1416 of this chapter;
  3. (iii) Emergency haying on certain practices, as determined by CCC, only outside the primary nesting season, if payments are authorized for the county under the Livestock Forage Disaster Program under part 1416 of this chapter, but on not more than 50 percent of the eligible CRP contract acres;
  4. (iv) Grazing of all practices only outside the primary nesting season if included as an approved CRP contract management activity in accordance with § 1410.22;
  5. (v) The intermittent and seasonal grazing of vegetative buffers, only outside the primary nesting season, that are incidental to agricultural production on land adjacent to the buffer provided such grazing:
    1. (A) Does not destroy the permanent vegetative cover; and
    2. (B) Retains suitable vegetative structure for wildlife cover and shelter outside the primary nesting season; and
  6. (vi) Grazing on all practices only outside the primary nesting season if conducted by a beginning farmer or rancher who is a participant on the CRP contract with a share of the rental payment greater than zero.
3. (3) The following activities may be permitted on CRP acreage according to an approved conservation plan, but only in exchange for a 25 percent reduction to the annual rental payment for the acres on which the permitted activity occurred:
  1. (i) Grazing of all practices not more frequently than every other year on the same land, except that during the primary nesting season the grazing will be subject to a 50 percent reduction in the stocking rate, as determined by CCC;
  2. (ii) Haying and other commercial use (including the managed harvesting of biomass, but not the harvesting of vegetative cover) of all practices, on the condition the activity:
    1. (A) Is completed only outside the primary nesting season;
    2. (B) Occurs not more than once every 3 years; and
    3. (C) Maintains 25 percent of the total CRP contract acres unharvested, in accordance with a conservation plan that provides for wildlife cover and shelter; and
  3. (iii) Annual grazing of all practices, only outside the primary nesting season for the control of invasive species.
(g) Not withstanding paragraph (f) of this section, haying and grazing will not be permitted on any land enrolled in CRP if such haying and grazing for that year would cause long-term damage to the vegetative cover on that land.