Department of Agriculture 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule implements a recommendation from the Administrative Committee for Pistachios (Committee) for an increase of the assessment rate established for the 2015-16 and subsequent production years from $0.0005 to $0.0035 per pound of assessed weight pistachios handled under the marketing order for pistachios grown in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. The Committee locally administers the order and is comprised of producers and handlers of pistachios operating within the area of production. Assessments upon pistachio handlers are used by the Committee to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The production year begins on September 1 and ends August 31. The assessment rate would remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, the United States Department of Agriculture announces a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture (AC21). The committee is being convened to: Consider work of the three ad hoc subgroups on the progress of their analyses relevant to the new AC21 charge; listen to presentations from outside experts on topics relevant to the work of the AC21; and continue overall discussions on the committee charge and planning subsequent work.

The Ketchikan Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Ketchikan, Alaska. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (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. RAC information can be found at the following Web site: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/pts.

The Office of the Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are sponsoring a public meeting on March 23, 2016. The objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft United States positions to be discussed at the 48th Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), taking place in Chongqing, China, April 25-29, 2016. The Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety and EPA recognize the importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background information on the 48th session of the CCPR and to address items on the agenda.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is extending the comment period for its proposed rule addressing changes to the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA), as amended, in order to comply with amendments to the USGSA made by the Agriculture Reauthorizations Act of 2015.

The Trinity County Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Weaverville, California. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self- Determination Act (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. Additional RAC information, including the meeting agenda and the meeting summary/minutes can be found at the following Web site: www.fs.usda.gov/main/stnf/workingtogether/advisorycommittees.

The National Advisory Committee for Implementation of the National Forest System Land Management Planning Rule Committee (Committee) will meet in Washington, DC. Attendees may also participate via webinar and conference call. The Committee operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (Pub. L. 92-463). Committee information can be found by visiting the Committee's Web site at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/planningrule/committee.

This document addresses the 2016 Sunset Review submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) through the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP) by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) following the NOSB's October 2014 and April 2015 meetings. The 2016 Sunset Review pertains to the NOSB's review of the need for the continued allowance for seven substances on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List). Consistent with the NOSB's review, this publication provides notice on the renewal of five synthetic and two nonsynthetic substances on the National List, along with any restrictive annotations. For substances that have been renewed on the National List, this document completes the 2016 National List Sunset Process.

This document directs that a referendum be conducted among eligible domestic manufacturers and importers of softwood lumber to determine whether they favor continuance of the Softwood Lumber Research, Promotion, Consumer Education and Industry Information Order (Order).

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing that the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) is sponsoring a public meeting on March 29-30, 2016. The objective of the public meeting is to review and determine the steps FSIS should take to ensure better Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) control at retail. FSIS is seeking input on whether FSIS should require certain actions by retail stores. FSIS will ask the Committee to consider the following: (1) Should FSIS rely on regulation, the Food Code, or some other means to effect these actions? (2) Are there sources of information that FSIS should consider when deciding on what steps to take that the Agency has not identified? NACMPI will also review and discuss whether FSIS should pursue mandatory features on the label of processed not ready to eat (NRTE) products that do not appear to be ``not ready to eat.'' For example: (1) Should all NRTE products be required to bear the statement ``raw meat/poultry, for safety cook thoroughly''? (2) Are there other steps FSIS should consider requiring of processors to prevent illnesses involving these products?

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the golden nematode regulations by removing areas in Orleans, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties in the State of New York from the list of generally infested areas. The interim rule was necessary to relieve restrictions on the movement of regulated articles from areas no longer under quarantine for golden nematode. As a result of the interim rule, movement of such articles from areas no longer under quarantine can proceed while preventing the spread of golden nematode from infested areas to noninfested areas of the United States.

The Tehama County Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Red Bluff, CA. The committee is authorized under the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act (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. Additional RAC information, including the meeting agenda and the meeting summary/ minutes can be found at the following Web site: https://www.fs.usda.gov/ main/pts/specialprojects/racweb.

This document corrects the preamble to a proposed rule published by the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) in the Federal Register of January 25, 2016, regarding (GIPSA) proposal to revise existing regulations and add new regulations under the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA), as amended, in order to comply with amendments to the USGSA made by the Agriculture Reauthorizations Act of 2015. The document contained the incorrect RIN.

On April 29, 2015, the Rural Housing Service (RHS) published a final rule to create a certified loan application packaging process for the direct single family housing loan program. On June 5, 2015, the final rule's effective date was deferred to October 1, 2015. On September 11, 2015, the final rule's effective date was further delayed until October 1, 2016. Given that Section 726 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, requires RHS to establish a packaging program based on the pilot program, the final rule's effective date will be moved up to May 19, 2016.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration's (GIPSA) intention to request that the Office of Management and Budget approve a 3-year extension and revision of a currently approved information collection in support of the reporting and recordkeeping requirements for the Swine Contract Library program.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has reached a preliminary decision to extend our determination of nonregulated status of Pioneer corn event DP-004114-3 (hereinafter Pioneer 4114 corn) to Syngenta's corn event MZIR098 in response to a request from Syngenta Seeds Inc. MZIR098 corn has been genetically engineered for resistance to insects and to the herbicide glufosinate-ammonium using the same mechanism of action as Pioneer 4114. We are making available for public comment our preliminary regulatory determination, preliminary finding of no significant impact, and plant pest risk similarity assessment for the proposed determination of nonregulated status.

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) proposes to make changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) regulations pertaining to the eligibility of SNAP retail food stores. The Agricultural Act of 2014 (2014 Farm Bill) amended the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (the Act) to increase the requirement that certain SNAP authorized retail food stores have available on a continual basis at least three varieties of items in each of four staple food categories, to a mandatory minimum of seven varieties. The 2014 Farm Bill also amended the Act to increase, for certain SNAP authorized retail food stores, the minimum number of categories in which perishable foods are required from two to three. This proposed rule would codify these mandatory requirements. Further, using existing authority in the Act and feedback from a Request for Information that included five listening sessions in urban and rural locations across the nation and generated 233 public comments, FNS is proposing several additional changes. Among other items, these proposed changes address depth of stock, amend the definition of staple foods, and amend the definition of ``retail food store'' to clarify when a retailer is a restaurant rather than a retail food store. The rulemaking also proposes that FNS begin disclosing to the public specific information about retailers who have violated SNAP rules.

The Mt. Hood National Forest will prepare an environmental impact statement to document and disclose the projected effects of a congressionally directed and conditioned land exchange. This land exchange includes the conveyance of approximately 110 acres of National Forest System lands adjacent to Government Camp in Clackamas County, Oregon, in exchange for the acquisition of approximately 765 acres of land owned by Mt. Hood Meadows Oreg., LLC, in Hood River County, Oregon.

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Farm Service Agency, Commodity Credit Corporation, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Rural Utilities Service, Rural Business-Cooperative Service and Rural Housing Service finalize their portion of the uniform federal assistance rule and amend specific regulations to reference the conforming changes published by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Federal Register on December 19, 2014.

The U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program and the Carbon Cycle Interagency Working Group (CCIWG), under the auspices of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), are initiating an Interagency Special Report entitled the 2nd State of the Carbon Cycle Report (referred to as ``SOCCR-2'' or ``the Report'' throughout this notice). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has agreed to be lead agency for this report as it is relevant to USDA and USDA has experience in producing a similar highly successful report of Climate Change and Food Security. The focus of SOCCR-2 will be on U.S. and North American carbon cycle processes, stocks, and flows in the context of and interactions with global scale budgets and climate change impacts in managed and unmanaged systems. Carbon stocks and fluxes in soils, water (including oceans), vegetation, aquatic-terrestrial interfaces (e.g., coastal, estuaries, wetlands), human settlements, agriculture and forestry are included. The Report will consider relevant carbon management science perspectives and science-based tools for supporting and informing decisions, as addressed in and related to the U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan (2011), and other documents such as the USGCRP Strategic Plan (2012) and the White House Climate Action Plan (2013). The status of, and emerging opportunities for, improving measurements, observations and projections of stocks and fluxes in the carbon cycle, including uncertainty identification, will be part of the Report. SOCCR-2 will be a product of the USGCRP, organized and led by the Agency members of the CCIWG. This request for public engagement presents opportunities to (1) submit comments on the Draft Report Prospectus, (2) submit scientific/technical information to inform the assessment, and (3) nominate technical contributors.

We are amending the regulations governing the importation of plants for planting to authorize the importation of Phalaenopsis spp. plants for planting from China in approved growing media into the continental United States, subject to a systems approach. The systems approach consists of measures that are currently specified in the regulations as generally applicable to all plants for planting authorized for importation into the United States in approved growing media. This rule allows for the importation of Phalaenopsis spp. plants for planting from China in approved growing media, while providing protection against the introduction of quarantine plant pests.

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 livestock disease surveillance programs.