[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 38, Volume 2]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 38CFR21.126]

[Page 145-146]
 
            TITLE 38--PENSIONS, BONUSES, AND VETERANS' RELIEF
 
          CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS (CONTINUED)
 
PART 21--VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION AND EDUCATION--Table of Contents
 
     Subpart A--Vocational Rehabilitation Under 38 U.S.C. Chapter 31
 
Sec. 21.126  Farm cooperative course.

    (a) Definition. An approvable farm cooperative course is a full-time 
course designated to restore employability by training a veteran to:
    (1) Operate a farm which he or she owns or leases; or
    (2) Manage a farm as the employee of another.
    (b) Reaching the goal of a farm cooperative course. The farm 
cooperative course must enable a veteran to become proficient in the 
type of farming for which he or she is being provided rehabilitation 
services. The areas in which proficiency is to be established include:
    (1) Planning;
    (2) Producing;
    (3) Marketing;
    (4) Maintaining farm equipment;
    (5) Conserving farm resources;

[[Page 146]]

    (6) Financing the farm;
    (7) Managing the farm; and
    (8) Keeping farm and home accounts.
    (c) Instruction, including organized group instruction. Instruction 
in a farm cooperative course may be by a mixture of organized group 
(classroom) instruction and individual instruction or by individual 
instruction alone. A course which includes organized group instruction 
must meet the following criteria to be considered as full-time:
    (1) The number of clock hours of instruction which should be 
provided yearly shall meet the requirements of Sec. 21.310(a)(4) and 
Sec. 21.4264 pertaining to full-time pursuit of a farm cooperative 
course:
    (2) The individual instructor portion of a farm cooperative course 
shall include at least 100 hours of individual instruction per year.
    (d) Instruction given solely by an individual instructor. (1) 
Instruction in a farm cooperative course may be given solely by an 
individual instructor if organized group instruction is:
    (i) Not available within reasonable commuting distance of the 
veteran's farm; or
    (ii) The major portion of the organized group instruction that is 
available does not have a direct relation to the veteran's farming 
operation and pertinent VA records are fully and clearly documented 
accordingly.
    (2) To be considered full-time pursuit the individual instruction 
provided in these course must:
    (i) Consist of at least 200 hours of instruction per year;
    (ii) Be given by a fully qualified individual instructor by contract 
between VA and the instructor or an educational agency which employs the 
instructor.
    (e) Plan requirements for farm operator or farm manager. (1) The 
plan for training developed by the case manager and the veteran in 
collaboration with the instructor must include:
    (i) A complete written survey including but not limited to the areas 
identified in Sec. 21.298 (a) and (b);
    (ii) An overall, long-term plan based upon the survey of the 
operation of the farm;
    (iii) An annual plan identifying the part of the overall plan to be 
implemented which will be prepared before the beginning of each crop 
year; and
    (iv) A detailed individual training program showing the kind and 
amount of instruction, classroom and individual, or individual; and
    (2) The farm must meet the requirements for selecting a farm found 
in Sec. 21.298.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 3104(a)(7))

[49 FR 40814, Oct. 18, 1984; 50 FR 9622, Mar. 11, 1985]