(a)        Program Established. – The Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program is established. The purpose of the Program shall be to assist farmers and landowners in doing any one or more of the following:

(1)        Identify opportunities to increase water use efficiency, availability, and storage.

(2)        Implement best management practices to conserve and protect water resources.

(3)        Increase water use efficiency.

(4)        Increase water storage and availability for agricultural purposes.

(b)        Program Administration. – The Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program shall be implemented by the Soil and Water Conservation Commission through the soil and water conservation districts in the same manner as the Agriculture Cost Share Program for Nonpoint Source Pollution Control under Article 72 of Chapter 106 of the N.C. Gen. Stat.. The Soil and Water Conservation Commission shall supervise and administer this Program as provided in this section and as provided in Article 72 of Chapter 106 of the N.C. Gen. Stat. for the Agriculture Cost Share Program for Nonpoint Source Pollution Control. At least once each calendar year, the Director of the Division of Soil and Water Conservation of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Commissioner of Agriculture shall meet with stakeholders for the purpose of advising the Soil and Water Conservation Commission on the development and administration of the Program, including the development of annual goals for the Program.

(c)        Program Functions. – Under the Agricultural Water Resources Assistance Program, the Soil and Water Conservation Commission shall do the following:

(1)        Within funds available for this Program, provide cost-share funds subject to all of the following limitations and requirements:

a.         Except as provided in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-850(b)(9), State funding shall be limited to:

1.         Seventy-five percent (75%) of the average cost for each project, with the assisted person providing twenty-five percent (25%) of the project cost, which may include in-kind support of the project.

2.         A maximum of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) per year to each applicant.

b.         Applicants shall be limited to farmers who have an adjusted gross income in each of the previous two years that is at or below two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), unless at least seventy-five percent (75%) of this adjusted gross income is derived directly from farming, ranching, or forestry operations.

c.         The requirements and limitations under subdivisions (1), (2), (5), (7), and (8) of subsection (b) of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-850 do not apply. All other limitations and requirements set out in Article 72 of Chapter 106 of the N.C. Gen. Stat., as modified by this section, apply.

(2)        Approve best management practices eligible for cost-share funds under this Program.

(3)        Establish criteria to allocate funds to local soil and water conservation districts. The criteria shall include the development of agricultural wells.

(4)        Develop a process for soliciting and reviewing applications and for selecting farmers to participate in the Program.

(5)        Investigate and pursue other funding sources to supplement State funds, including federal, local, and private funding sources.

(6)        Provide technical assistance to participating persons to assist with the projects that are eligible for cost-share funds under subsection (a) of this section and to facilitate the timely transfer of technology among participating persons.

(7)        Adopt temporary and permanent rules as necessary to implement this Program.

(c1)      To be eligible for assistance under this program, each applicant must establish that the applicant is a bona fide farm as described by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 160D-903(a).

(c2)      In extraordinary circumstances, the Commission may permit an applicant to establish that he or she is engaged in farming with an alternate form of documentation if the farm has a conservation plan that meets the statutory purposes of the program.

(d)       Report. – No later than January 31 of each year, the Division of Soil and Water Conservation of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services shall prepare a comprehensive report on the implementation of subsections (a) through (c) of this section. The report shall be submitted to the Environmental Review Commission and the Fiscal Research Division as a part of the report required by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-850(e). ?(2011-145, ss. 13.23(a), 13.23A(b); 2011-391, s. 32; 2012-142, s. 11.2A(b); 2014-100, s. 13.3(a); 2015-263, s. 37(b); 2017-10, s. 4.18(c); 2022-55, s. 7(e); 2022-62, s. 26.)