NRCS CEMA 216 Qualified Individual Services

Client Acknowledgement, Responsibility, and Data Release Form 

Purpose of This Document 

This form documents your ("client" or "you") understanding of American Farmland Trust's ("AFT") role and your role in completing year 1 NRCS CEMA 216 Soil Health Testing and your consent for AFT to store and use the data associated with your project. Please read this document carefully before accepting it. It does not replace, and is separate from, any contract or agreement between you and USDA-NRCS. 

 

Section 1 — Your Responsibilities 

By accepting below, you agree to: 

  • Give AFT accurate, honest information throughout this engagement — on the intake form (property, fields, management history, and NRCS program status) and in all communications. 

  • Follow AFT’s training, soil sampling instructions and your specific sampling plan for sampling, handling, labeling and shipping, and give honest verification (geo-tagged photos or use of Fieldvision™) showing where and how you collected samples. 

  • Confirm with your NRCS planner whether your contract requires a pre-work conference. If not, get that in writing (email is fine) from your planner and send it to AFT. 

  • Pay all laboratory fees directly to the indicated soil testing laboratories. 

  • Review your completed report and sign the participant acceptance statement once it meets your needs. 

  • Contact AFT early enough that your CEMA 216 Soil Health Testing can reasonably be finished before your deadline (see Section 2). 

 

Section 2 —AFT's Responsibility 

AFT serves as your Qualified Individual for the specific scope of the year 1 NRCS CEMA 216 Soil Health Testing described in this document. By accepting below, you acknowledge and agree that: 

  • AFT will review your NRCS contract and determine the applicable compliance requirements, determine your soil testing locations, provide a sampling map, provide clear soil sampling instructions, provide instructions for shipping your samples to the laboratory, attend a pre-work conference with you and your NRCS planner if required, receive and review evidence of your soil sampling, receive and review your soil test results from the laboratory, interpret your results, prepare a report detailing the sampling process, findings, and recommendations, certify that the completed work meets NRCS's requirements for this CEMA, and provide your results and recommendations to you. 

  • AFT is responsible only for the year 1 CEMA 216 work described in this document. That does not include your compliance with other NRCS requirements, other conservation practices or contract terms, or legal, financial, tax, or agronomic advice of any other kind. 

  • NRCS alone decides whether to accept your deliverable and whether to pay you. AFT cannot guarantee any particular soil health result or program outcome, but will refund payment for work NRCS does not accept because of errors or incompleteness on AFT's part, if the problem cannot reasonably be resolved. AFT reserves the right to terminate this agreement at any time and for any reason, and in the event of such a termination will refund any payments received prior to termination.  

  • AFT's certification of the work conducted within this CEMA 216 depends on what you provide. Accurate information, as described in Section 1, is your responsibility, as is engaging AFT early enough to allow for lab processing and NRCS review. AFT is not responsible for delays or errors caused by the laboratory, carriers, or other circumstances outside its control, and may request additional documentation or decline to certify if sampling or information appears inaccurate or incomplete. 

 

Section 3 — Information Storage, Use, and Release 

3.1 — Information Needed to Provide This Service 

To complete your CEMA 216, AFT will collect and store information including your contact information, property and field details, management history, sampling data, laboratory results, correspondence, and the resulting report. This information is necessary for AFT to perform the service you have requested and will be retained as part of AFT's project records. 

3.2 — Aggregate Data Use in Support of AFT's Mission 

Separately from the data use described above, AFT will include your project's results in aggregated, de-identified form as part of AFT's broader work protecting farmland, understanding soils, and advancing farm viability. If you accept below, AFT may use and publish your anonymous soil health data in combination with data from other clients at the town or city level (e.g., "average aggregate stability in [Town], [State]") — never in a way that identifies you, your operation, or your specific property. 

3.3 — Data Retention and Your Rights 

AFT will retain your project records and take reasonable measures to keep your information secure. You may request a copy of your records, request a correction, or request that AFT delete your information, subject to any records AFT is required to retain for program or legal purposes, by contacting services@farmland.org. 

Acknowledgement 

By accepting, I confirm that I have read and understood this form and I agree to its terms.