Eligibility and Scope of Financing; Processing and Marketing, 1300 [E7-221]

Agencies

• Farm Credit Administration

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 7 (Thursday, January 11, 2007)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 1300]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-221]


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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 7 / Thursday, January 11, 2007 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 1300]]



FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION

12 CFR Part 613

RIN 3052-AC33


Eligibility and Scope of Financing; Processing and Marketing

AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration.

ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Farm Credit Administration (FCA, Agency, or we) Board 
reopens the comment period for 45 days following the date of 
publication in the Federal Register on the proposed rule to amend its 
regulation governing financing of processing and marketing operations 
by Farm Credit System (Farm Credit, FCS, or System) institutions under 
titles I and II of the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended (Act), so 
that interested parties will have additional time to provide comments.

DATES: Please send your comments to us on or before February 26, 2007.

ADDRESSES: We offer a variety of methods to receive your comments. For 
accuracy and efficiency reasons, commenters are encouraged to submit 
comments by e-mail or through the Agency's Web site or the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal. As faxes are difficult for us to process and 
achieve compliance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, please 
consider another means to submit your comment if possible.
    Regardless of the method you use, please do not submit your comment 
multiple times via different methods. You may submit comments by any of 
the following methods:
     E-mail: Send us an e-mail at reg-comm@fca.gov.
     Agency Web site: https://www.fca.gov. Select ``Legal 
Info,'' then ``Pending Regulations and Notices.''
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Gary K. Van Meter, Deputy Director, Office of 
Regulatory Policy, Farm Credit Administration, 1501 Farm Credit Drive, 
McLean, VA 22102-5090.
     FAX: (703) 883-4477. Posting and processing of faxes may 
be delayed. Please consider another means to comment, if possible.
    You may review copies of comments we received at our office in 
McLean, Virginia, or from our Web site at https://www.fca.gov. Once you 
are in the Web site, select ``Legal Info,'' and then select ``Public 
Comments.'' We will show your comments as submitted, but for technical 
reasons we may omit items such as logos and special characters. 
Identifying information that you provide, such as phone numbers and 
addresses, will be publicly available. However, we will attempt to 
remove e-mail addresses to help reduce Internet spam.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Barry Mardock, Associate Director, Office of Regulatory Policy, Farm 
Credit Administration, 1501 Farm Credit Drive, McLean, VA, (703) 883-
4456, TTY (703) 883-4434; or
Michael A. Anderson, Policy Analyst, Office of Regulatory Policy, Farm 
Credit Administration, Denver, CO, (303) 696-9737; or
Howard I. Rubin, Senior Counsel, Office of General Counsel, Farm Credit 
Administration, McLean, VA 22102-5090, (703) 883-4029, TTY (703) 883-
4020.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 16, 2006, FCA published a 
proposed rule in the Federal Register to amend its regulations in part 
613 governing financing of processing and marketing operations by 
System institutions under titles I and II of the Farm Credit Act of 
1971, as amended (Act). See 71 FR 60678. Specifically, this proposal 
would add additional specific criteria to determine eligibility of 
legal entities for financing as processing and marketing operations. 
The Agency further proposed a non-substantive technical correction to 
its regulation defining the term ``person''. The comment period closed 
on December 15, 2006. In letters dated December 15, 2006, the 
Independent Community Bankers of America, Independent Bankers of 
Colorado, Nebraska Independent Community Bankers, Independent Bankers 
Association of Texas, and Financial Services Roundtable requested the 
FCA to extend the comment period for at least 90 days because of the 
breadth and complexity of the proposed rule. On December 19, 2006, the 
Farm Credit Council filed an opposition to the request for extension of 
comment period, stating that the proposed rule is of ``vital importance 
to America's farmers and ranchers,'' that ``ample time'' has already 
been provided to interested parties to review and comment and that any 
additional comment period should not extend past January 15, 2007. The 
commenters requesting an extension asserted that the proposed rule will 
significantly expand the lending authority of FCS institutions to 
include virtually all commercial enterprises, up to and including 
WalMart. Such a wide scale expansion of lending authority is not the 
intent of the proposed rule. Instead, as discussed at length in the 
preamble to the proposed rule, the intent of the amended rule is to 
better ensure that FCS institutions are meeting their statutory mandate 
to provide necessary credit to bona fide farmers and ranchers for their 
processing and marketing needs in light of changing ownership 
structures in the modern agricultural economy. In their written 
comments on the proposed rule, many FCS institutions submitted examples 
of family farm operations (that already borrow from FCS lenders) that 
cannot obtain FCS credit for their processing and marketing operations 
under current FCA rules because of the way ownership of the processing 
or marketing operation is structured.
    Because the FCA supports public involvement and participation in 
its regulatory process, we are reopening the comment period for 45 days 
and invite and encourage all interested parties to submit constructive 
and specific suggestions on ways our proposed rule can be improved to 
better meet our goal of ensuring that all bona fide farmers and 
ranchers have access to FCS credit for their processing and marketing 
needs in accordance with the Act.

    Dated: January 5, 2007.
James M. Morris,
Acting Secretary, Farm Credit Administration Board.
[FR Doc. E7-221 Filed 1-10-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6705-01-P