Stakeholder Listening Sessions and Request for Information on the Agriculture Innovation Center Demonstration Program, 47286-47288 [2021-18134]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Rural Business-Cooperative Service

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 161 (Tuesday, August 24, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47286-47288]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-18134]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Business-Cooperative Service

[Docket No. RBS-21-BUSINESS-0013]


Stakeholder Listening Sessions and Request for Information on the 
Agriculture Innovation Center Demonstration Program

AGENCY: Rural Business-Cooperative Service, Department of Agriculture 
(USDA).

ACTION: Request for information.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBCS) is hosting a 
listening session and opening a request for information for public 
input about the Agriculture Innovation Center Demonstration (AIC) 
Program. The AIC program provides grants to Centers that provide 
services to agricultural producers to assist them with marketing value-
added agricultural products. RBCS is currently considering how it can 
streamline the application process, clarify eligibility requirements 
and reduce the burden for meeting them, revise the merit review 
process, and assess the program's performance.

DATES:  The listening session will be held virtually on: October 5 at 2 
p.m.-4:00 p.m. ET; https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3831947973149428235.
    Comments must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time 
(EST) on https://www.regulations.gov.

ADDRESSES: Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and, in the ``Search'' box, type in the Docket No. 
RBS-21-BUSINESS-0013. A link to the Notice will appear. You may submit 
a comment here by selecting the ``Comment'' button or you can access 
the ``Docket'' tab, select the ``Notice,'' and go to the ``Browse & 
Comment on Documents'' Tab. Here you may view comments that have been 
submitted as well as submit a comment. To submit a comment, select the 
``comment'' button, complete the required information, and select the 
``Submit Comment'' button at the bottom. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket after the close of the 
comment period, is available through the site's ``FAQ'' link at the 
bottom. Comments on this information collection must be received by 
October 25, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Gail Thuner, Grants Division, 
Cooperative Programs, Rural Business-Cooperative Service, United States 
Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, MS 3201, Room 
5803--South, Washington, DC 20250-3250, or call 202-720-1400, or email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Overview of AIC

    The AIC Program was authorized in Section 6402 of the 2002 Farm 
Bill (Pub. L. 107-171), as amended by Section 7608 of the 2018 Farm 
Bill (Pub. L. 115-334). Terms you need to understand are defined in 7 
CFR 4284.3 and 4284.1004. The intent of AIC is to provide technical 
assistance to agricultural producers to help them market value-added 
agricultural products.
    The program currently awards grants of up to $1,000,000 to Centers 
that can provide at least one-third of the project costs in matching 
funds and who have the capability to provide services to agricultural 
producers to assist them with marketing value-added agricultural 
products. The types of services that can be provided include:

 Financial advisory services related to the development, 
expansion, or operation of business owned by an agricultural 
producer(s) that will produce a value-added agricultural product, as 
long as the assistance is not to support forming a joint marketing 
effort by a group of producers, such as a farmers market, roadside 
stand, community-supported agriculture, and online sales
 Process development services, including:
    [cir] Engineering services including scale-up of production systems 
(not to include cost of renovating or constructing a facility or 
system)
    [cir] Scale production assessments, defined as studies that analyze 
facilities, including processing facilities, for potential value-added 
activities to determine the size that optimizes construction and other 
cost efficiencies
    [cir] Systems development
    [cir] Other technical assistance and applied research related to 
development, implementation, improvement and operations of processes 
and systems to produce and market a value-added agricultural product
 Organizational assistance, including legal and technical 
advisory services related to the development, expansion, or operation 
of a business owned by an agricultural producer(s) that will produce a 
value-added agricultural product, as long as this assistance is not 
provided to support forming a joint marketing effort of food and food 
products by a group of producers, such as a farmers market, roadside 
stand, community-supported agriculture, and online sales
 Outreach assistance, limited to assistance with connecting an 
agricultural producer to a distribution system, processing facility, or 
commercial kitchen
 Technical assistance for product development (excluding R&D), 
where product development has the following definition: Stages involved 
in bringing a product from idea or concept through commercial-scale 
production, including concept testing, feasibility and cost analysis, 
product taste-testing, demographic and other types of consumer 
analysis, production analysis, and evaluation of packaging and labeling 
options
 Grants of $5,000 or less to agricultural producers for the 
above services
 Costs associated with establishing and operating a Center, 
such as legal services, accounting services, clerical assistance, 
technical services, hiring employees, monitoring contracts, and Board 
of Director travel

    Centers may also use their matching funds to provide the following 
services:

 Business development services, such as feasibility studies, 
business plans, and other types of technical assistance

[[Page 47287]]

and applied research that support business development, including 
support to forming a joint marketing effort by a group of producers, 
such as a farmers market, roadside stand, community-supported 
agriculture, and online sales
 Market development and outreach services, such as marketing 
plans, branding, and customer identification including support to 
forming a joint marketing effort by a group of producers, such as a 
farmers market, roadside stand, community-supported agriculture, and 
online sales

    Grants may be made to local governments, State governments, 
Federally-Recognized Tribes, institutions of higher education, 
nonprofit corporations, and for-profit corporations. Individuals are 
not eligible to apply. Note that applicant organizations must be 
prepared to act as Centers to provide Producer Services. Grant awards 
are not made directly to businesses or agricultural producers to market 
value-added products.
    This notice and listening session requests information on RBCS' 
plan to consider ways to streamline the application process, clarify 
eligibility requirements and reduce the burden for meeting them, revise 
the merit review process, and assess program performance. The public 
input provided in response to this notice from interested stakeholders 
will advise RBCS on this plan.

Instructions

    Response to this notice is voluntary. Each individual or 
institution is requested to submit only one response as directed in the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice. Submissions must not exceed 10 pages 
and fonts must be 12 point or larger, with a page number provided on 
each page. Responses should include the name of the person(s) or 
organization(s) filing the comment. Comments containing references, 
studies, research, and other empirical data that are not widely 
published should include copies or electronic links of the referenced 
materials. Comments containing profanity, vulgarity, threats, or other 
inappropriate language or content will not be considered. Comments 
submitted in response to this notice are subject to disclosure under 
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552). Responses to this 
notice may also be posted, without change, on a Federal website.
    Therefore, we request that no business proprietary information, 
copyrighted information, or personally identifiable information be 
submitted in response to this notice. In accordance with FAR 52-215-
3(b) responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by 
the Government to form a binding contract. Additionally, the U.S. 
Government will not pay for response preparation or for the use of any 
information contained in the response.
    To inform the Federal government's decision-making process, RBCS 
now seeks public input on the following questions:
    1. RBCS is seeking feedback on the definitions needed to assist 
applicants and recipients with understanding program requirements.
    a. Are there any additional terms that we could define to improve 
applicant and/or recipient understanding of the program requirements?
    b. Applicants are required to demonstrate that the Center's Board 
of Directors has representatives from the two general agricultural 
organizations in the State with the greatest number of members. How 
should we define a general agricultural organization?
    c. Applicants are required to demonstrate that the Center's Board 
of Directors has representatives from four entities representing 
commodities. How should we define these types of organizations?
    d. Product development is not identified in the authorizing statute 
for the program as an eligible use of funds. However, RBCS has 
previously determined that many components of product development are 
allowable because those components are related to the types of services 
that are eligible for the program. If RBCS continues to allow product 
development as an eligible use of funds, how should we define it?
    2. RBCS is seeking feedback on how applicants can demonstrate that 
they meet the eligibility requirements for the program. Most of the 
requirements listed below are statutory, so they cannot be changed, but 
we can consider alternatives to how and when we ask applicants to 
demonstrate that they meet them.
    a. The authorizing statute requires that eligible applicants have 
provided Producer Services. How can applicants demonstrate that they 
meet this requirement? How many years of experience are appropriate to 
show that an organization has experience in providing Producer 
Services? Note that Producer Services is currently defined at 7 CFR 
4284.1004.
    b. The authorizing statute for the program requires that applicants 
that do not have experience in providing Producer Services demonstrate 
their capability to provide Producer Services. How can these applicants 
demonstrate their capability?
    c. The authorizing statute requires that an eligible applicant 
outlines the support for the entity in the agricultural community. How 
can applicants demonstrate that they meet this requirement?
    d. The authorizing statute requires that an eligible applicant 
outlines a plan that describes the technical and other expertise of the 
entity. How do you think this technical and other expertise is 
different from demonstrating experience in providing Producer Services 
or the capability to provide Producer Services? How can applicants 
demonstrate that they meet this requirement?
    e. All types of organizations are eligible to apply for the AIC 
program. However, these organizations still need to demonstrate that 
they are legal entities that are authorized to receive an award. How 
can applicants demonstrate that they meet this requirement?
    f. The authorizing statute requires that a Center has a Board of 
Directors that includes representatives from the following 
organizations:
     General agricultural organizations with the greatest and 
second greatest number of members in the State in which the eligible 
entity is located;
     The department of agriculture, or similar State department 
or agency or a State legislator, of the State in which the eligible 
entity is located; and
     Four entities representing commodities produced in the 
State.
How can applicants demonstrate that they meet this requirement?
    g. The authorizing statute requires that the Center has its own 
Board of Directors. What should the role of the Board of Directors be?
    h. The program has previously required applicants to provide 
certain financial information, such as financial statements and audits, 
so that RBCS could assess the applicant's financial capability to 
administer the funds as well as meet the requirement established by 2 
CFR 200.206 to conduct a risk evaluation. What criteria, information, 
or threshold should RBCS consider when assessing the financial 
capabilities of an applicant?
    3. RBCS is seeking feedback on project eligibility requirements. 
Some of these requirements are statutory, while others are targeted 
toward improving the project's chances of success.
    a. The statute does not define a minimum or maximum period of 
performance. Based on previous experiences with recipients, RBCS has 
discovered that first-time recipients need much more than a one-year 
period

[[Page 47288]]

of performance for the first award and set the period of performance at 
two years to allow these recipients the time needed to establish their 
Centers. What should the period of performance be for first-time 
recipients? What should it be for recipients that have established 
Centers?
    b. The statute establishes a maximum award of $1,000,000, but it 
does not establish a minimum award. In the previous year, RBCS set a 
minimum award size of $500,000, with the expectation that all 
recipients would have funding for a two-year period of performance. 
Given a two-year period of performance, what should the minimum award 
be? What should the minimum award be if the period of performance is 
only one year?
    c. The authorizing statute requires applications to include goals 
for increasing and improving the ability of local agricultural 
producers to develop markets and processes for value-added agricultural 
products. Note that the Value-Added Producer Grant Program currently 
defines a Locally-Produced Agricultural Food Product in 7 CFR 4284.902. 
Should the AIC program be consistent with this definition with respect 
to considering the service area of Centers? If not, what should be 
considered local for AIC Centers? Should all project funds be required 
to be spent on assistance to local agricultural producers? If not, what 
percentage or share of the project should be dedicated to local 
producers versus producers that are not local?
    4. RBCS seeks feedback on the types of services that Centers can 
provide. The current regulation restricts the use of funds to the types 
of assistance defined as Producer Services (see 7 CFR 4284.1004). 
Producer Services include assistance such as business development 
services, process development services (e.g., engineering studies and 
scale production assessments), marketing assistance, product 
development, financial advisory services, and legal advisory services. 
We do have a small amount of discretion to expand this definition to 
include related types of assistance. What types of assistance should be 
provided by Centers to agricultural producers? Note that all assistance 
provided must be for the purpose of helping the producer market a 
value-added agricultural product. Assistance cannot be provided to 
other types of entities, such as retailers, distributors, processors, 
or customers.
    5. RBCS seeks feedback on when the application deadline for the 
program should be. It is our intention to have a consistent deadline 
from year to year. This deadline must be set to allow sufficient time 
for processing applications in order to make awards prior to September 
30 each year. If application requirements are streamlined or less 
burdensome, the burden on applicants selected for an award may increase 
because supporting documentation will be supplied at the award stage 
rather than the application stage. This approach would result in less 
time processing applications but more time processing awards.
    6. RBCS is seeking feedback on the merit review process. The 
authorizing statute does not identify any criteria that RBCS must use 
as part of its merit review process. However, the statute does require 
a competitive process, and 2 CFR 200.205 also requires a merit review. 
What criteria should RBCS use to identify projects that best fit the 
purpose of the program and have the greatest chance of success? Should 
these criteria be objective, subjective, or a mix of both? What type of 
reviewers should RBCS use to evaluate the merit of proposed projects? 
Should the RBCS Administrator have discretion to award additional 
points based on geography, Agency priorities, or other factors?
    7. RBCS is seeking feedback on the award process. The authorizing 
statute requires an annual competitive process to make awards. However, 
we are exploring options to minimize the burden of running a nationwide 
competition every year, given the limited number of awards that we can 
make as well as the larger scope of the projects funded. These options 
include, but are not limited to, multi-year periods of performance, 
renewals for recipients that are performing satisfactorily, and 
competitions limited to existing recipients. Would the use of any of 
these options (or alternatives) reduce the burden for the program, 
streamline the application process, or improve the success of the 
program?
    8. RBCS is seeking feedback on how the program's performance should 
be assessed. As stated above, the purpose of the program is to provide 
services to agricultural producers to assist them with marketing value-
added agricultural products. The required goals of recipients must 
include increasing and improving the ability of local agricultural 
producers to develop markets and processes for value-added agricultural 
products. Given this purpose and these goals, what performance measures 
should be established for the program? How should they be measured?

Non-Discrimination Statement

    In accordance with Federal civil rights laws and U.S. Department of 
Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its 
Mission Areas, agencies, staff offices, employees, and institutions 
participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from 
discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, 
gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, 
disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived 
from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or 
retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity 
conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). 
Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident.
    Program information may be made available in languages other than 
English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of 
communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large 
print, audiotape, American Sign Language) should contact the 
responsible Mission Area, agency, or staff office; the USDA TARGET 
Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY); or the Federal Relay Service 
at (800) 877-8339.
    To file a program discrimination complaint, a complainant should 
complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, 
which can be obtained online at https://www.ocio.usda.gov/document/ad-3027, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a 
letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant's 
name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the 
alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the 
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date 
of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or 
letter must be submitted to USDA by:
    (1) Mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant 
Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 
20250-9410; or
    (2) Fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
    (3) Email: [email protected].

Karama Neal,
Administrator, Rural Business-Cooperative Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-18134 Filed 8-23-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-15-P