Department of Agriculture April 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NRCS and CCC published an interim rule for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) with a request for comments, and a comment period ending April 28, 2015. This document reopens the comment period.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a new information collection for the Child Nutrition Program Operations Study-II.

In furtherance of the Presidential Memorandum entitled Expanding Broadband Deployment and Adoption by Addressing Regulatory Barriers and Encouraging Investment and Training, which established the Broadband Opportunity Council (Council), the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) are requesting public comment to inform the deliberations of the Council.\1\ The Council's objectives are to: (i) Engage with industry and other stakeholders to understand ways the government can better support the needs of communities seeking to expand broadband access and adoption; (ii) identify regulatory barriers unduly impeding broadband deployment, adoption, or competition; (iii) survey and report back on existing programs that currently support or could be modified to support broadband competition, deployment, or adoption; and (iv) take all necessary actions to remove these barriers and realign existing programs to increase broadband competition, deployment, and adoption.\2\ We welcome input from all interested parties, including the stakeholder groups identified in the Presidential Memorandum.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS or Agency) published a proposed rule on August 23, 2013, to amend its regulations for the section 502 direct single family housing loan program to create a certified loan application packaging process. Through this action, revisions are being made to the rule based on an evaluation of the public comments received as well as the results of the pilot program RHS began in 2010 to test changes to the loan application packaging process. This final rule will impose reasonable experience, training, structure, and performance requirements on eligible service providers; and it will regulate the packaging fee permitted under the process. By establishing a vast network of competent, experienced, and committed Agency-certified packagers, this action is intended to benefit low- and very low-income people who wish to achieve homeownership in rural areas by increasing their awareness of the Agency's housing program, increasing specialized support available to them to complete the application for assistance, and improving the quality of loan application packages submitted on their behalf.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS) proposes to amend the origin of livestock requirements for dairy animals under the USDA organic regulations. This proposed action would specify that a producer can transition dairy animals into organic production once. This proposed action would clarify that, after completion of this one-time transition, any new dairy animals that a producer adds to a dairy farm would need to be managed organically from the last third of gestation or sourced from dairy animals that already completed their transition into organic production. This proposed action would also clarify how breeder stock should be managed on organic livestock farms.

We are advising the public that we have prepared a pest risk analysis that evaluates the risks associated with importation of fresh pitahaya fruit from Israel into the continental United States. Based on the analysis, we have determined that the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds via the importation of fresh pitahaya from Israel. We are making the pest risk analysis available to the public for review and comment.

This rule proposes changes to the meal pattern requirements for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) to better align the meal patterns with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as required by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA). The proposed changes are based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, science-based recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies in the report Child and Adult Care Food Program: Aligning Dietary Guidance for All, and input from stakeholders, as well as cost and practical considerations for CACFP institutions and facilities. In addition, this proposal would make additional revisions to the health and wellness components of CACFP to reflect several requirements set forth in the HHFKA, including making changes to the purpose of the Program and making water available to Program participants. Several of these changes would be extended to the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and Special Milk Program to increase consistency across all Child Nutrition Programs. Implementation of this proposed rule would serve as a step towards more nutritious meals that improve the dietary habits of participants in day care. The comment period is being extended to provide additional time for interested parties to review this propose rule, to May 27, 2015.

This rule amends the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations that specify the conservation compliance requirements that participants in USDA programs must meet to be eligible for certain USDA benefits. The USDA benefits to which conservation compliance requirements currently apply include marketing assistance loans, farm storage facility loans, and payments under commodity, disaster, and conservation programs. The conservation compliance requirements apply to land that is either highly erodible land (HEL) or that is wetlands. This rule amends the regulations to implement the Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Farm Bill) provisions that: make the eligibility for Federal crop insurance premium subsidy benefits subject to conservation compliance requirements; and convert the wetland mitigation banking pilot to a program and authorizes $ 10 million for the Secretary to operate a wetland mitigation banking program. This rule specifies the conservation compliance requirements, exemptions, and deadlines that apply in determining eligibility for Federal crop insurance premium subsidy from the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC). This rule also modifies easement provisions relating to mitigation banks as specified in the 2014 Farm Bill, and clarifies provisions regarding the extent of agency discretion with respect to certain violations.

We are proposing to amend the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of fresh Andean blackberry and raspberry fruit from Ecuador into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, the fruit would have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that would include requirements for importation in commercial consignments, from a pest free production site within a certified low pest prevalence area for fruit flies, and pest monitoring and trapping. The fruit would also have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of Ecuador bearing an additional declaration stating that the consignment was produced and prepared for export in accordance with the requirements of the systems approach. This action would allow for the importation of fresh Andean blackberry and raspberry fruit from Ecuador while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests into the continental United States.

We are amending the regulations to allow, under certain conditions, the importation of commercial consignments of fresh papayas from Peru into the continental United States. The conditions for the importation of papayas from Peru will include requirements for approved production locations; field sanitation; hot water treatment; procedures for packing and shipping the papayas; and fruit fly trapping in papaya production areas. This action will allow for the importation of papayas from Peru while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests into the continental United States.

We are amending the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of fresh apples (Malus pumila) from China into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, apples from areas in China in which the Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) is not known to exist will have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that includes requirements for registration of places of production and packinghouses, inspection for quarantine pests at set intervals by the national plant protection organization of China, bagging of fruit, safeguarding, labeling, and importation in commercial consignments. Apples from areas in China in which Oriental fruit fly is known to exist may be imported into the continental United States if, in addition to these requirements, the apples are treated with fumigation plus refrigeration. All apples from China will also be required to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that all conditions for the importation of the apples have been met and that the consignment of apples has been inspected and found free of quarantine pests. This action allows for the importation of apples from China into the continental United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.

We are advising the public that we have determined that it is necessary to amend hot water treatment schedule T102-a in the Plant Protection and Quarantine Treatment Manual to extend the applicability of the treatment to additional mango commodities. We have prepared a treatment evaluation document that describes the revised treatment schedule and explains why we have determined that it is effective at neutralizing certain target pests. We are making this treatment evaluation document available to the public for review and comment.

This rule amends the Honey Packers and Importers Research, Promotion, Consumer Education and Information Order (Order) to increase the assessment rate from $0.01 per pound to $0.015 per pound on honey and honey products, over a two-year period. The Order limits an increase in the assessment rate to no more than one-quarter cent per pound per year. Thus, the rate will increase to $0.0125 per pound for the period January 1 through December 31, 2015, and to $0.015 per pound on and after January 1, 2016. This increase was unanimously recommended by the Honey Packers and Importers Board (Board) which administers the Order with oversight by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Under the program, assessments are collected from first handlers (packers) and importers and used for research and promotion projects designed to maintain and expand the market for honey and honey products in the United States and abroad. Additional funds will allow the Board to expand its production research activities and promotional efforts. The Board's production research focuses on maintaining the health of honey bee colonies. Increasing demand for honey and honey products will benefit the honey industry as a whole. This action also makes three additional changes to: Clarify that the assessment rate applies not only to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers but to any other numbers used to identify honey; change the length of time that books and records are to be held; and change the exemption requirements.

This rule revises the minimum quantity exception for potatoes handled under the Colorado potato marketing order, Area No. 2 (order). The order regulates the handling of Irish potatoes grown in Colorado and is administered locally by the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Area No. 2 (Committee). This action increases the quantity of potatoes that may be handled under the order without regard to the order's handling regulation requirements from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds. The change in the import regulation is required under section 8e of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937. This action allows for the importation which, in the aggregate, does not exceed 2,000 pounds for all other round type potatoes, except red skinned, round type or long type potatoes that continue to remain at a 500 pound limit, to be imported without regard to the import regulations. This action is expected to benefit producers, handlers, and importers.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection for Field Crops Production. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in the size of the target population, sampling design, the combining of several smaller surveys, and/or changes in questionnaire length.

The Tongass Advisory Committee (Committee) will meet in Ketchikan, Alaska. The Committee is established consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (5 U.S.C. App. 2). Committee recommendations and advice may directly inform the development of a proposed action for modification of the 2008 Tongass Land Management Plan. The meeting is open to the public. Additional information concerning the Committee, including the meeting summary/minutes, can be found by visiting the Committee's Web site at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/ goto/R10/Tongass/TAC.

The Forest Resource Coordinating Committee (Committee) will meet via teleconference. The Committee is established consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (FACA) (5 U.S.C. App. II), and the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the Act) (Pub. L. 110-246). Additional information concerning the Committee, including the meeting agenda, supporting documents and minutes, can be found by visiting the Committee's Web site at https://www.fs.fed.us/spf/coop/ frcc/.

This is a notice to inform the public of an upcoming meeting of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Animal Health. The meeting is being organized by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to discuss matters of animal health.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, the Agency undertook a pilot program to evaluate how the loan application packaging process could be improved for the Section 502 Direct Single Family Housing program, which is authorized in Title V, Section 1480 (k) of the Housing Act. This pilot program introduced the use of intermediaries in the packaging process. Intermediaries reach out to other nonprofits to serve as loan application packagers, ensure those packagers are qualified and trained, perform quality assurance reviews to prevent the submission of incomplete or ineligible loan application packages to the Agency, and serve as a liaison between the Agency and the packager. Through this notice, the Agency will accept applications to be an intermediary under the pilot program. Approval will be subject to fully meeting the conditions outlined within this notice, sanctioning by the Single Family Housing Direct Loan Division following an application review (which will include input from the applicable Rural Development State Office), and signoff by the Rural Housing Service Administrator.

The Foreign Agricultural Service published a notice on April 6, 2015 that gave notice of the intent to renew the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee for Trade and the six Agricultural Technical Advisory Committees for Trade. Nominations for persons to serve on these seven committees were requested. The document contained four minor errors.

The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) was established to assist in the development of standards for substances to be used in organic production and to advise the Secretary on the implementation of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA). Through this Notice, The USDA is requesting nominations to fill five (5) upcoming vacancies on the NOSB. The positions are as follows: Farmers/growers (2), consumer/public interest advocates (2), and a USDA Accredited Certifying Agent (1). The Secretary of Agriculture will appoint one person to each of these five positions to serve a 5-year term of office that will commence on January 24, 2016, and end January 23, 2021.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Forest Service is seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on the reinstatement with change for the information collection, National Woodland Owner Survey (NWOS).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this information collection. This collection is a revision of a currently approved collection which FNS employs to determine public participation in the School Breakfast Program.