Department of Agriculture 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Fiscal Year 2006 established the demonstration Rural Development Voucher Program, as authorized under Section 542 of the Housing Act of 1949 as amended (42 U.S.C. 1490R) (without regard to Section 542(b)). This Notice informs the public that funding is available for the Rural Development Voucher Program and also sets forth the general policies and procedures for use of these vouchers for Fiscal Year 2014. Pursuant to the requirements in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, Public Law 113-76, Rural Development Vouchers are only available to low-income tenants of Rural Development-financed multifamily properties where Rural Rental Housing loan (Section 515 loan) has been prepaid (either through prepayment or foreclosure action), prior to the loan's maturity date and after September 30, 2005.

The Southwest Montana Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Dillon, Montana. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (Pub. L. 110-343) (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the committee is to improve collaborative relationships and to provide advice and recommendations to the Forest Service concerning projects and funding consistent with Title II of the Act. The meeting is open to the public. The purpose of the meeting is to review and recommend projects for Title II funding.

We are amending the regulations concerning the importation of fruits and vegetables to allow the importation of fresh blueberries from Morocco into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, the blueberries must be produced under a systems approach employing a combination of mitigation measures for two quarantine pests, Ceratitis capitata and Monilinia fructigena, and must be inspected prior to exportation from Morocco and found free of these pests. The blueberries may be imported in commercial consignments only and must be treated with one of two approved postharvest treatments to mitigate C. capitata. The blueberries will have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that the conditions for importation have been met. This action will allow the importation of blueberries from Morocco while continuing to protect against the introduction of plant pests into the United States.

We are proposing to amend the regulations governing the importation of animals and animal products to define a low-risk classical swine fever region in Mexico from which we would allow the importation of fresh pork and pork products under certain conditions. Under this proposed rule, such pork and pork products would have to be derived from swine raised on farms meeting stringent sanitary and biosecurity requirements. We would also provide safeguards against commingling of the swine and the pork and pork products with animals and products that do not meet our proposed requirements. Establishments that slaughter the swine from which the pork or pork products are derived would have to allow periodic inspection and evaluation of their facilities, records, and operations by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. This proposed rule would relieve some restrictions on the importation of pork and pork products from Mexico while continuing to protect against the introduction of classical swine fever into the United States.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request a revision to and extension of approval of an information collection associated with the regulations for the commercial transportation of equines to slaughtering facilities.

This document contains a correction to the notice published in the Federal Register on July 16, 2014 entitled, ``National School Lunch, Special Milk, and School Breakfast Programs: National Average Payments/Maximum Reimbursement Rates.''

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking renewal of the 2-year charter for its discretionary committee, the Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics. Effective October 1, 1996, responsibility for the census of agriculture program was transferred to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) at USDA from the Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. Effective February 2, 1997, NASS also received the transferred program positions and staff from the Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. Responsibility for the Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics, which is a discretionary committee and was established by agency authority, was transferred, along with its allocated slot, to USDA with the census of agriculture program.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting, as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that decreased the assessment rate established for the Spearmint Oil Administrative Committee (Committee) for the 2014-2015 and subsequent marketing years from $0.10 to $0.09 per pound of spearmint oil handled. The Committee locally administers the marketing order which regulates the handling of spearmint oil produced in the Far West. The interim rule was necessary to allow the Committee to reduce its financial reserve while still providing adequate funding to meet program expenses.

The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is proposing to revise the U.S. Standards for Barley (barley standards) under the U.S. Grain Standards Act (USGSA) by revising the Definitions of Other Terms to remove Blue Malting barley and the reference to kernels with white aleurone layers. Further GIPSA will revise the standards to add the factors injured-by-mold and mold- damaged kernels. The proposal also recommends revisions to the grade and grade requirements for Two-rowed Malting Barley, Six-rowed Malting barley, and Six-rowed Blue Malting barley. These proposed changes will help to facilitate the marketing of barley.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the above-named Agencies to request an extension for the currently approved information collection in support of the servicing of Community and Direct Business Programs Loans and Grants.

The Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is revising the United States Standards for Whole Dry Peas to establish an additional color grading factor requirement for the Whole Dry Peas class ``Smooth Yellow Dry Peas'' and establish a definition for ``fair color yellow peas.'' These changes will help facilitate the marketing of the class, Smooth Yellow Dry Peas and help ensure the purity of classes for Whole Dry Peas.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is currently accepting stakeholder feedback in the form of content requests for the 2017 Census of Agriculture. This census is required by law under the Census of Agriculture Act of 1997, Public Law 105-113 (7 U.S.C. 2204g).

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the Asian longhorned beetle regulations by removing portions of Middlesex and Union Counties, NJ, from the list of quarantined areas based on our determination that those areas meet our criteria for removal. The interim rule was necessary to relieve restrictions that are no longer necessary because there are no longer any areas in New Jersey that are quarantined because of Asian longhorned beetle.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces FNS' intention to request emergency approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This is a new collection for Examination of Cash Nutrition Assistance Program Benefits in Puerto Rico.

This notice announces the annual adjustments to the national average payment rates for meals and snacks served in child care centers, outside-school-hours care centers, at-risk afterschool care centers, and adult day care centers; the food service payment rates for meals and snacks served in day care homes; and the administrative reimbursement rates for sponsoring organizations of day care homes, to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index. Further adjustments are made to these rates to reflect the higher costs of providing meals in the States of Alaska and Hawaii. The adjustments contained in this notice are made on an annual basis each July, as required by the laws and regulations governing the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

The Southwest Mississippi Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Meadville, Mississippi. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (Pub. L. 110-343) (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the committee is to improve collaborative relationships and to provide advice and recommendations to the Forest Service concerning projects and funding consistent with Title II of the Act. The meetings are open to the public. The purpose of the meetings are to review and recommend project proposals.

This rule revises the rules and regulations of the California date marketing order (order) to impose interest and late payment charges on overdue handler assessments. The order regulates the handling of dates produced or packed in Riverside County, California, and is administered locally by the California Date Administrative Committee (committee). Assessments upon date handlers are used to fund the reasonable and necessary expenses of the committee. These changes are expected to assist in the financial administration of the order by encouraging handlers to pay their assessments in a timely manner.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA or Department) is amending its regulation on nondiscrimination in programs or activities conducted by the Department. The changes clarifies the roles and responsibilities of USDA's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OASCR) and USDA agencies in enforcing nondiscrimination in programs or activities conducted by the Department and strengthens USDA's civil rights compliance and complaint processing activities to better protect the rights of USDA customers. OASCR's compliance activities are detailed, and a requirement is included that each agency shall, for civil rights compliance purposes, collect, maintain and annually compile data on the race, ethnicity, and gender (REG) of all conducted program applicants and participants by county and State. Applicants and program participants will provide the race, ethnicity, and gender data on a voluntary basis. The amendment also provides that OASCR shall offer Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services to complainants where appropriate. This amendment is intended to encourage the early resolution of customer complaints. Finally, USDA is amending its regulation to add protection from discrimination in programs or activities conducted by the Department with respect to two new protected bases, political beliefs, and gender identity. The Secretary has decided to establish gender identity as a separate protected basis for USDA's conducted programs and activities. This amendment is meant to make explicit protections against discrimination based on USDA program customers' political beliefs or gender identity. Gender identity includes USDA program customers' gender expression, including how USDA program customers act, dress, perceive themselves, or otherwise express their gender.

As part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) strategy to successfully implement Section 7214 of Public Law 113-79, the Agricultural Act of 2014, NIFA is soliciting stakeholder input on how it will provide priority to Centers of Excellence in the receipt of funding from its competitive research or extension programs. NIFA will be holding web-based listening sessions in order to solicit stakeholder input on this new challenge area. The focus of the web-based listening sessions will be to gather stakeholder input that will be used in developing a process for consistently providing priority consideration to these Centers of Excellence. NIFA is particularly interested in input on how best to define the scope of a Center of Excellence, whether there are models being used by other federal agencies that might be useful to examine, and at what point in the review/selection process ``priority'' should be given to applications submitted by Centers of Excellence. All comments must be received by close of business on July 31, 2014, to be considered in the initial drafting of the FY 2015 process for priority consideration of the Centers of Excellence.

This notice announces the national average value of donated foods or, where applicable, cash in lieu of donated foods, to be provided in school year 2015 (July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015) for each lunch served by schools participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), and for each lunch and supper served by institutions participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).

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

In response to a request from the Secretary of State for the State of Idaho, the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) has approved amendments to the State of Idaho's (Idaho) certified central filing system to permit Idaho to convert debtor social security and taxpayer identification numbers into approved unique identifiers. The proposed specific procedure whereby Idaho will automatically convert social security numbers and taxpayer identification numbers into ten-number unique identifiers has been reviewed and determined to permit the numerical searching of master lists while providing protection against identity theft.