Department of Agriculture May 19, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Hiawatha East Resource Advisory Committee will meet in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The committee is meeting as authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (Pub. L. 110-343) and in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose is to review project proposals.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations governing the importation of tomatoes from Spain, Chile, France, Morocco, and Western Sahara.

In a final rule that was published in the Federal Register on December 15, 2009, and effective on January 14, 2010, we amended the regulations governing the importation of animal byproducts to, among other things, provide specific conditions under which deer and other ruminant hides and skins from Mexico could be imported into the United States in order to protect U.S. livestock from the introduction of bovine babesiosis. It was our intent to indicate that deer and ruminant hides and skins from Mexico may not go to an approved establishment upon importation into the United States rather than comply with the specific conditions established in the final rule. This document corrects that error.

This document informs the public of the next meeting of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health. In this document, we provide a new date for the July 2011 meeting, which had been scheduled for the previous week. The meeting is being organized by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to discuss matters of animal health, including the pending proposed rule implementing USDA's traceability framework and establishing an aquaculture subcommittee.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is establishing the regulation for the Agriculture Priorities and Allocations System (APAS). Food is a critical commodity essential to the national defense (including civil emergency preparedness and response). To avoid civilian hardship during national defense emergencies it may be necessary to regulate the production, processing, storage, and wholesale distribution of food. Through the APAS rule, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will respond to requests to place priority ratings on contracts, or orders of agriculture commodities up through the wholesale levels for agriculture production and equipment, allocate resources, and handle food claims as specified in the Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950, as amended, if the necessity arises. FSA needs to implement this rule to direct the agriculture commodities and resources to areas of hardship or potential hardship due to national emergencies. For example, APAS is designed to use the DPA authority to help ensure that food is available when and where it is needed most, such as after a hurricane or earthquake. In most cases, there is likely to be no economic impact in filling priority orders because it would generally just be changing the timing in which orders are completed.