(a) The Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets is authorized to develop a Vermont critical source area seeding and filter strip program in addition to the federal Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program in order to compensate farmers for establishing and maintaining harvestable perennial vegetative grassed waterways and filter strips on agricultural cropland perpendicular and adjacent to the surface waters of the State, including ditches. Eligible acreage would include annually tilled cropland or a portion of cropland currently cropped as hay that will not be rotated into an annual crop for a 10-year period of time. Acreage that is currently managed as hay shall have a prior history of rotation as corn or other annual commodity crop.

(b) Incentive payments from the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets shall be made at the outset of a 10-year agreement to establish or maintain the acreage as harvestable grassed waterway or filter strip.

(c) The Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets may establish by procedure financial and technical criteria for the implementation and operation of the Vermont critical source area seeding and filter strip program.

(d) Land enrolled in the Vermont agricultural buffer program shall be considered to be in "active use" as that term is defined in 32 V.S.A. § 3752(15).

(e) As used in this section, "surface waters" means all rivers, streams, ditches, creeks, brooks, reservoirs, ponds, lakes, and springs which are contained within, flow through, or border upon the State or any portion of it. (Added 2005, No. 147 (Adj. Sess.), § 55, eff. May 15, 2006; amended 2009, No. 110 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. May 18, 2010; 2015, No. 39, § 15.)