(a) Agricultural district means a district established pursuant to section 303 or 304 of the Agriculture and Markets Law.

(b) Agricultural districting advisory committee means a committee, established by a county legislative body pursuant to section 302 of the Agriculture and Markets Law, to advise the county legislative body and to work with the county planning board, in relation to the establishment, modification or termination of agricultural districts.

(c) Agricultural soil group means one of ten mineral soil groups or four organic soil groups established by this system.

(d) Agricultural value assessment means an annual assessment of land used in agricultural production which satisfies the requirement of section 305 or 306 of the Agriculture and Markets Law and is thereby subject to an agricultural value ceiling.

(e) Agricultural value per acre means the average value per acre of land used in agricultural production as determined annually on the basis of its agricultural value without consideration for other potential uses.

(f) Assessor means the person having the power to assess property for taxation.

(g) Board means the State Board of Equalization and Assessment.

(h) Commissioner means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets of the State of New York.

(i) Commitment means a declaration by the owner of land used in agricultural production located outside of an agricultural district that such land will be used exclusively for agricultural production for the next succeeding eight years.

(j) Cultivated land means land used for growing crops, hay, pasture, and permanent pasture for the preceding two years.

(k) Department means the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

(l) Farm woodland means any land of two acres of more which is used primarily for the production of woodland products.

(m) Land classification system means the system established by the commissioner incorporating soil productivity and capability for use by the State Board of Equalization and Assessment in determining agricultural value per acre, pursuant to section 304 of the Agriculture and Markets Law.

(n) Mineral soils means all those soils that do not meet the criteria for organic soils established by this Part.

(o) Nonagricultural land means land used for nonagricultural purposes.

(p) Organic soils means muck soils which consist of well-decomposed organic materials ranging in depth from 16 to 100 inches located over mineral soil deposits. The classification of these soils is defined in Soil Taxonomy—A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys, U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation System, Agricultural Handbook No. 436.

(q) Soil capability means the physical ability of the soil to maintain agricultural production without sustaining damage to the soil structure of the surface layer while being adequately protected from erosion and other means of deterioration.

(r) Soil map means a map, on file with the county soil and water conservation district office, showing the distribution of soil mapping units in relation to the prominent physical and cultural features of the earth's surface.

(s) Soil map unit means the name of a specific kind of soil including its slope and other specific features as designated by a specific soil symbol on a soil map.

(t) Soil productivity means the average yield for a specified crop under a prudent system of management.

(u) Soil productivity index system means the system developed by Cornell University, Department of Agronomy, in cooperation with the U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service, Syracuse, NY to be used to establish an individual soil's productivity rating.

(v) Soil scientist means a person having special knowledge of the physical, chemical and biological sciences applicable to the genesis and morphology of soils as natural bodies and of the methods to describe, classify and map soil units. This person must possess a minimum of two years experience in classifying and mapping soils and at least a bachelors degree, with 30 semester hours or equivalent in biology, physical science and earth science with a minimum of 15 semester hours in soil science. Individuals who do not meet the above minimum qualifications but who possess at least 10 years experience mapping soils are qualified if they have completed at least 10 semester hours in soil science.

(w) County soil and water conservation district means the district created pursuant to section 6 of the Soil and Water Conservation Districts Law.

(x) Total digestible nutrients (TDN) means a standard evaluation of the digestibility of a particular livestock feed, including all the digestible organic nutrients: protein, fiber, nitrogen-free extract, and fat.

(y) Universal soil loss equation means an equation used for the design of water erosion control systems. The equation is set forth in Agricultural Handbook #537—Predicting Rainfall Erosion Losses, Science and Education Administration, 1978, as:

wherein: