Department of Agriculture September 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) intention to request an extension and revision of a currently approved information collection under the Dairy Product Mandatory Reporting Program. The information collected supports the marketing of dairy products and is used to verify compliance with Federal milk marketing regulations.

This Notice announces that the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is accepting applications for the Technical Assistance and Training Grant Program (TAT). RUS is providing an amount of funding to be determined to provide technical assistance and training grants for disaster recovery (TAT/DR) to RUS eligible water and sewer utilities serving areas subject to Presidential disaster declarations in effect on or after the date of this notice which are beyond the scope or capacity of existing grant agreements or contracts with the RUS and do not duplicate other federal assistance to water and sewer utilities in the affected areas. No single award will exceed $600,000 and more than one grant may be made. Expenses incurred in developing applications will be at the applicant's risk. Once funding for TAT has been determined, RUS will publish the program funding level on the Rural Development Web site https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/water- waste-disposal-technical-assistance-training-grants.

This decision proposes amendments to Marketing Order No. 982 (order), which regulates the handling of hazelnuts grown in Oregon and Washington, and provides growers with the opportunity to vote in a referendum to determine if they favor the changes. Two amendments are proposed by the Hazelnut Marketing Board (Board), which is responsible for local administration of the order. The proposed amendments would add both the authority to regulate quality for the purpose of pathogen reduction and the authority to establish different regulations for different markets. In addition, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) proposed to make any such changes as may be necessary to the order to conform to any amendment that may result from the public hearing. The proposals would aid in pathogen reduction and the industry's ability to meet the needs of different market destinations.

This proposal invites comments on realigning the production districts under the Watermelon Research and Promotion Plan (Plan) for producer and handler membership on the National Watermelon Promotion Board (Board), and adding four importer seats to the Board. The Board administers the Plan with oversight by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). These changes were recommended by the Board after a review of the production volume in each district as well as assessments paid by importers. This action is necessary to provide for the equitable representation of producers, handlers and importers on the Board. The Plan requires that such a review be conducted every 5 years. This action would increase the number of importer seats from 8 to 12, thereby increasing the number of Board members from 37 to a total of 41: 14 producers, 14 handlers, 12 importers, and one public member.

The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS) extends the original deadline (July 24, 2017) for submitting applications for grant funds to help provide financial assistance to address the continued unmet health needs in the Delta Region announced in a Notice published May 22, 2017 in the Federal Register. This action is taken to clarify the requirement in the Notice that Consortium members be located in the Delta Region.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), with participation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), and other stakeholders is hosting a public meeting to discuss FSIS' and other agencies' practices and plans for collecting and analyzing whole genome sequence (WGS) data of bacteria isolated from official samples, as well as the state of the science and other issues surrounding this technology. WGS analyses can determine sequence relatedness between bacterial isolates with higher resolution than other analytical methods, including pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), FSIS' current method of characterizing bacteria. In addition, WGS analyses can characterize genes and other features of bacterial genomes. Currently, FSIS, local, State, and Federal public health and regulatory partners submit WGS data to a Federal public database, readily accessible to Federal and state partners, and other stakeholders, including regulated industry and consumers. Using this common database, Federal food safety partners can share information and collaborate on issues related to food safety and public health. FSIS intends to analyze WGS data using thoroughly vetted and scientifically accepted procedures and standards, along with epidemiological information and industry production and distribution records on amenable product, to carry out its public health mission. Inclusion of WGS analyses in decision-making will enhance foodborne outbreak investigations, as well as general decisions related to the use of data from routine verification sampling of establishments under FSIS jurisdiction. Industry, interested individuals, organizations, and other stakeholders are invited to participate in the meeting and comment on FSIS approaches for using WGS data within a regulatory framework.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Agency's intent to request emergency approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a new information collection for beef producers, where applicable, to provide prior affirmative consent authorizing a state Qualified State Beef Council (QSBC) to retain a portion of their assessments collected under the Beef Promotion and Research Act of 1985 (Act).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to seek approval to conduct a new information collection to gather data related to the number of producers, acreage, number of vines, age of vines, etc. of wine grape varieties.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) invites comments on this information collection for which RUS intends to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

We are advising the public that we are adding Uganda to the list of regions that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service considers to be affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). This action follows our imposition of HPAI-related restrictions on avian commodities originating from or transiting Uganda as a result of the confirmation of HPAI in Uganda.

In accordance with legislation implementing the results of the Uruguay Round of negotiations under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, we are informing the public of the international standard-setting activities of the World Organization for Animal Health, the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention, and the North American Plant Protection Organization, and we are soliciting public comment on the standards to be considered.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Forest Service is seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on a new information collection request through the Public Lands Corps Participant Tracking Sheet.

This proposed rule would implement a recommendation from the South Texas Onion Committee (Committee) to increase the assessment rate established for the 2017-18 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.05 to $0.065 per 50-pound equivalent of onions handled under the marketing order (order). The Committee locally administers the order and is comprised of producers and handlers of onions operating within the area of production. Assessments upon onion handlers are used by the Committee to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The fiscal period begins August 1 and ends July 31. The assessment rate would remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

This notice announces the Department of Agriculture, Departmental Management, Office of Procurement and Property Management's intention to request an extension of a currently approved information collection, Guidelines for Designating Biobased Products for Federal Procurement.

USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture announces its stakeholder listening initiative ``NIFA Listens: Investing in Science to Transform Lives.'' This stakeholder listening opportunity informs the research, extension and education priorities of NIFA, which has the mission of investing in and advancing agricultural research, education and extension to solve societal challenges. These investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global pre-eminence of U.S. agriculture. This listening opportunity allows stakeholders to provide feedback on the following questions: ``What is your top priority in food and agricultural research, extension or education that NIFA should address?'' and ``What are the most promising science opportunities for advancement of food and agricultural sciences?'' This effort to obtain input on NIFA's science priorities will be carried out through online and in-person submission mechanisms. Stakeholder input received from the two mechanisms is treated equally. The priorities and opportunities obtained from this effort will be evaluated in conjunction with input from NIFA staff. This information will be critical for NIFA's evaluation of existing science emphasis areas to identify investment opportunities and gaps in the current portfolio of programs. The information obtained through this iterative analysis and synthesis will help to ensure the strategic positioning and relevancy of NIFA's investments in advancing agricultural research, education and extension.

We are amending the regulations governing the importation of plants for planting to add orchid plants of the genera Phalaenopsis and Cymbidium from the Republic of Korea to the list of plants that may be imported into the continental United States in an approved growing medium, subject to specified growing, inspection, and certification requirements. We are taking this action in response to a request from the Republic of Korea and after determining that the plants could be imported under certain conditions without resulting in the introduction into, or the dissemination within, the United States of a plant pest or noxious weed.

This notice announces a fee of $300 to be charged for the 2018 tariff-rate quota (TRQ) year for each license issued to a person or firm by the Department of Agriculture authorizing the importation of certain dairy articles, which are subject to tariff-rate quotas set forth in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) of the United States.

This notice announces the revised appendices under the Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota Licensing Regulation for the 2017 quota year reflecting the cumulative annual transfers from Appendix 1 to Appendix 2 for certain dairy product import licenses permanently surrendered by licensees or revoked by the Licensing Authority.

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 bees and related articles into the United States.

We are amending the regulations concerning the importation of fruits and vegetables to allow the importation of fresh persimmon with calyxes from Japan into the United States. As a condition of entry, the persimmon must be produced in accordance with a systems approach that includes requirements for orchard certification, orchard pest control, post-harvest safeguards, fruit culling, traceback, and sampling. The persimmons will also have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that they were produced under, and meet all the components of, the agreed upon systems approach and were inspected and found to be free of quarantine pests. This action will allow the importation of fresh persimmons with calyxes from Japan while continuing to protect against the introduction of plant pests into the United States.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces Rural Development's intention to request a revision for a currently approved information collection in support of loan programs administered by the Rural Housing Service, Business- Cooperative Service, and Rural Utilities Service.