Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 12423-12424 [2022-04634]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 43 (Friday, March 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12423-12424]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-04634]


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Notices
                                                Federal Register
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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2022 / 
Notices

[[Page 12423]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

March 1, 2022.
    The Department of Agriculture will submit the following information 
collection requirement(s) to OMB for review and clearance under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 on or after the date 
of publication of this notice. Comments are requested regarding: (1) 
Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 
information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of burden including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize 
the burden of the collection of information on those who are to 
respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    Comments regarding these information collections are best assured 
of having their full effect if received by April 4, 2022. Written 
comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection 
should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on 
the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this 
particular information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day 
Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information 
unless the collection of information displays a currently valid OMB 
control number and the agency informs potential persons who are to 
respond to the collection of information that such persons are not 
required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays 
a currently valid OMB control number.

National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)

    Title: Stocks Reports.
    OMB Control Number: 0535-0007.
    Summary of Collection: The National Agricultural Statistics 
Service's primary function is to prepare and issue current, official 
State and national estimates of crop and livestock production, stocks, 
disposition, and prices. As part of this function, estimates are made 
for stocks of off-farm grains and oilseeds, hops, peanuts, potatoes, 
and rice. Statistics for the set of crops included in this docket are 
collected because of the large volume produced, high value of 
production, and significant public interest. General authority for data 
collection is granted under U.S. Code Title 7, Section 2204. This 
statute specifies that ``The Secretary of Agriculture shall procure and 
preserve all information concerning agriculture which he can obtain . . 
. by the collection of statistics . . . and shall distribute them among 
agriculturists.''
    Need and Use of the Information: NASS collects information to 
administer farm program legislation and make decisions relative to the 
export-import programs. Estimates of stocks provide essential 
statistics on supplies and contribute to orderly marketing. Farmers and 
agribusiness firms use these estimates in their production and 
marketing decisions. Collecting this information less frequently would 
eliminate data needed by the government, and industry and farmers to 
keep abreast of changes at the State and national level.
    Description of Respondents: Business or other for profit; Farms.
    Number of Respondents: 6,330.
    Frequency of Responses: Reporting: Monthly; Quarterly; Annually.
    Total Burden Hours: 5,062.

National Agricultural Statistics Service

    Title: Generic Clearance of Survey Improvement Projects.
    OMB Control Number: 0535-0248.
    Summary of Collection: The primary function of the National 
Agricultural Statistics Service is to prepare and issue State and 
National estimates which include crop and livestock production, 
economic and environmental inputs, whole farm characteristics and 
operator demographics (covered by the Census of Agriculture) under the 
general authority of Title 7 U.S.C. Sec. 2204.
    NASS is requesting the renewal of a generic clearance in order to 
respond quickly to emerging issues and data collection needs. The 
agricultural industry and economy continue to change, and NASS needs to 
continuously evaluate its surveys in light of these changes. 
Respondents continue to change (e.g., response rates decrease over 
time), technology continues to change (e.g., the Web quickly became a 
data collection option), and data needs continue to change. In 
addition, our understanding of how to improve surveys continues to 
evolve (e.g., the application of cognitive psychology to survey 
methodology has increased our understanding of surveys). The generic 
clearance structure allows NASS to meet these information needs using a 
means that minimizes respondent and administrative burden. Thus, NASS 
requests an ongoing OMB clearance structure in place to continue to 
improve the overall quality of its statistical surveys, to lessen the 
burden it places on respondents, and to shorten the time period between 
changes that affect surveys and NASS' ability to formulate and update 
its surveys to address those changes. Prior to each test, NASS will 
submit to OMB a mini-supporting statement that will describe the 
details of each specific test, along with a sample of the questions or 
questionnaire that will be tested.
    Need and Use of the Information: The information obtained from 
these efforts will be used to develop new NASS surveys and improve 
current ones. Specifically, the information will be used to reduce 
respondent burden while simultaneously improving the quality of the 
data collected in these surveys. These objectives are met when 
respondents are presented with plain, coherent and unambiguous 
questionnaires that ask for data compatible with respondents' memory 
and/or current reporting and record keeping practices. The purpose of 
the survey improvement projects will be to ensure that NASS surveys 
continuously attempt to meet these standards of excellence.
    Improved NASS surveys will inform policy decisions on agriculture, 
as well

[[Page 12424]]

as contributing to increased agency efficiency and reduced survey 
costs. In addition, methodological findings have broader implications 
for survey research and may be presented in technical papers at 
conferences or published in the proceedings of conferences or in 
journals.
    The results of these tests won't be disseminated or used to inform 
policy, program, or budget decisions.
    Description of Respondents: Private Sector; Businesses or other 
for-profits; Farms.
    Number of Respondents: 25,000.
    Frequency of Responses: Reporting: On occasion.
    Total Burden Hours: 15,000.

National Agricultural Statistics Service

    Title: Quick Response for Cooperator-funded Surveys Generic 
Clearance.
    OMB Control Number: 0535-0264.
    Summary of Collection: The primary objectives of the National 
Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) are to prepare and issue 
official State and national estimates of crop and livestock production, 
disposition and prices, economic statistics, and environmental 
statistics related to agriculture and to conduct the Census of 
Agriculture and its follow-on surveys. In addition to the many 
statistical activities directly related to its mission, the National 
Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will lend technical expertise to 
other Federal agencies, State governments, land grant universities, and 
other organizations which have a Memorandum of Understanding with NASS. 
These entities will be referred to as cooperators. NASS provides 
support and assistance in the areas of questionnaire & sample design as 
well as analysis of survey results. NASS would like to include data 
collection to its list of services, utilizing the existing Cooperative 
Agreement with the National State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA). 
The data collection activities in this generic clearance request would 
be conducted through cooperative agreements with Federal agencies, 
State departments of agriculture, land-grant universities, or other 
organizations with which NASS has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). 
The surveys will be conducted under a full-cost recovery basis. These 
cooperators have sought out NASS's assistance to provide statistics 
beneficial to agriculture, but are not covered by NASS's annual 
Congressional appropriation. General authority for conducting 
cooperative projects is granted under U.S. Code Title 7, Section 450a 
which states that USDA officials may, ``enter into agreements with and 
receive funds . . . for the purpose of conducting cooperative research 
projects. . .'' This authority has been delegated to NASS. Response to 
all surveys collected under this generic clearance is voluntary.
    NASS benefits from these cooperative agreements by: (1) Obtaining 
additional data to update its list of farm operators; (2) encouraging 
both parties to coordinate Federal survey activities and activities 
funded under a cooperative agreement to reduce the need for overlapping 
data collection and/or spread out respondent burden; and (3) 
facilitating additional promotion of NASS surveys and statistical 
reports funded by annual Congressional appropriations. Respondents 
benefit from these cooperative agreements by: (1) Having their reported 
data protected by Federal Law (U.S. Code Title 18, Section 1905; U.S. 
Code Title 7, Section 2276; and Title III of Pub. L. 115-435 codified 
in 44 U.S.C. Ch. 35 and other applicable Federal laws, (CIPSEA)); (2) 
having data collection activities for Federal and Cooperative surveys 
coordinated to minimize respondent burden; and (3) having high-quality 
agricultural data that are important to a state or region be collected 
and published.
    Need and Use of the Information: NASS would like to conduct up to 
10 surveys each year in response to requests from cooperators who have 
data needs that cannot be met through NASS's annual Congressional 
appropriations.
    NASS would like to include surveys that would cover topics such as:

--Farm management practices,
--Food safety,
--Workplace safety,
--Conservation and land use practices,
--Chemical use management practices,
--Crop quality,
--Agri-tourism, local foods, or other specific agricultural promotion 
programs.

    The summarized and published information will be analyzed by the 
sponsoring cooperators and stakeholders in agriculture. Results will be 
used to study

--production agriculture as well as
--various programs and policies to determine their impact on 
agricultural producers and consumers.

    Description of Respondents: Private Sector; Businesses or other 
for-profits; Farms.
    Number of Respondents: 225,000.
    Frequency of Responses: Reporting: Annually.
    Total Burden Hours: 111,512.

Levi S. Harrell,
Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2022-04634 Filed 3-3-22; 8:45 am]
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