Question

Difficulty: HardInference and Logical Deduction

Read the following passage carefully:

Under the 2026 Climate-Adaptive Agricultural Credit Policy, regional rural banks are authorized to issue interest-subsidized loans exclusively to smallholder farmers who adopt verified regenerative tillage practices. The policy specifies that credit subsidies will be immediately revoked if a farming cooperative fails to maintain a minimum 30% crop-diversification index during the annual audit. However, cooperatives that integrate automated drip-irrigation systems are granted a two-year exemption from crop-diversification audits, provided their groundwater consumption does not exceed pre-established regional thresholds. Furthermore, any cooperative whose interest subsidy is revoked becomes ineligible to apply for state-backed emergency flood relief funds for a period of three consecutive fiscal years. A recent Ministry of Agriculture report indicates that while several cooperatives in the Western Basin adopted automated drip-irrigation in 2025, over half of them exceeded their regional groundwater consumption limits during the 2026 drought.

Based strictly on the passage provided, which of the following statements must logically be true regarding those Western Basin cooperatives that exceeded their regional groundwater consumption limits in 2026?

  1. They cannot claim the two-year exemption from crop-diversification audits under the credit policy for the 2026 fiscal year.Answer
  2. B
    They will automatically have their state-backed emergency flood relief funds revoked for the next three consecutive fiscal years.
  3. C
    Adopting regenerative tillage practices prevents cooperatives from over-allocating groundwater resources during drought conditions.
  4. D
    Regional rural banks are legally required to cancel all interest-subsidized loans across the entire Western Basin region.

Answer

The cooperatives that exceeded their groundwater limits cannot claim the two-year exemption from crop-diversification audits under the credit policy.
The passage clearly establishes a conditional rule for the two-year crop-diversification audit exemption: cooperatives using drip irrigation receive it 'provided their groundwater consumption does not exceed pre-established regional thresholds.' Since the specified cooperatives exceeded those thresholds, they fail the mandatory condition and therefore cannot claim the audit exemption.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the rule governing audit exemptions
Automated drip-irrigation grants a two-year crop-diversification audit exemption ONLY IF groundwater consumption does not exceed regional thresholds.
This establishes the logical conditional: Exemption requires (Drip Irrigation AND Groundwater ≤ Threshold).
2
Apply the factual condition given in the passage
The specified Western Basin cooperatives exceeded their regional groundwater consumption thresholds in 2026.
The condition required to sustain the audit exemption was breached.
3
Deduce the necessary logical consequence
Because the necessary condition (Groundwater ≤ Threshold) failed, the exemption cannot apply to them.
This is a direct, necessary deduction based strictly on the text provided.

Key Concept

Conditional Logic and Necessary Inferences in Passage Analysis
Estimated Time:1m 50s
Rate this question