Department of Agriculture 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

GIPSA is announcing the designations of J.W. Barton Grain Inspection Service, Inc. (Barton); Central Illinois Grain Inspection, Inc. (Central Illinois); Sioux City Inspection and Weighing Service Company (Sioux City); Northern Plains Grain Inspection Service, Inc. (Northern Plains) and Plainview Grain Inspection and Weighing Service, Inc. (Plainview) to provide official services under the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA), as amended.

The designation of the official agency listed below will end on December 31, 2017. We are asking persons or governmental agencies interested in providing official services in the areas presently served by this agency to submit an application for designation. In addition, we are asking for comments on the quality of services provided by the following designated agency: Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (Alabama).

We are advising the public that we are proposing to recognize Japan as being free of highly pathogenic avian influenza and Newcastle disease. This proposed recognition is based on a risk evaluation we have prepared in connection with this action, which we are making available for review and comment.

The Office of the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (the Secretary) announces the establishment of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 (October 1, 2017-September 30, 2018) in-quota aggregate quantity of raw cane sugar at 1,117,195 metric tons raw value (MTRV), and the establishment of the FY 2018 in-quota aggregate quantity of certain sugars, syrups, and molasses (also referred to as refined sugar) at 182,000 MTRV.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on proposed information collections. This collection is a revision of currently approved information collection requirements associated with initiating collection actions against households who have received an overissuance in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, this notice announces a meeting of the National Advisory Council on Maternal, Infant and Fetal Nutrition. Date and Time: July 11-13, 2017, 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Place: The meeting will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn Arlington/ Shirlington, Environment Room, 4271 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, Virginia, 22206.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, intends to grant to Oregon State University of Corvallis, Oregon, an exclusive license to the variety of blueberry described in U.S. Plant Patent Application Serial No. 15/530,947, ``BLUEBERRY CULTIVAR NAMED `ECHO','' filed on March 28, 2017.

This rule implements a recommendation from the Cherry Industry Administrative Board (Board) to establish free and restricted percentages for the 2016-17 crop year under the marketing order for tart cherries grown in the states of Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin (order). The Board locally administers the marketing order and is comprised of producers and handlers of tart cherries operating within the production area, and a public member. This action establishes the proportion of tart cherries from the 2016 crop which may be handled in commercial outlets at 71 percent free and 29 percent restricted. These percentages should stabilize marketing conditions by adjusting supply to meet market demand and help improve grower returns.

This rule implements a recommendation from the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Potato Committee (Committee) to decrease the assessment rate established for the 2017-2018 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.0025 to $0.002 per hundredweight of potatoes handled. The Committee locally administers the marketing order which regulates the handling of potatoes grown in certain designated counties in Idaho, and Malheur County, Oregon. Assessments upon potato 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 will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

This notice announces a forthcoming meeting of The Council for Native American Farming and Ranching (CNAFR), a public advisory committee of the Office of Tribal Relations (OTR). Notice of the meetings are provided in accordance with section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended. This will be the second meeting held during fiscal year 2017 and will consist of, but not be limited to: Hearing public comments, update of USDA programs and activities, and discussion of committee priorities. This meeting will be open to the public.

Notice is hereby given of the intention of NRCS to issue revisions to the State Offsite Methods (SOSM) for use in Iowa, North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota. The SOSM is used in completing wetland determinations for USDA program eligibility purposes. The existing SOSM's have been in use since July 2015, NRCS is seeking comments only on the proposed revisions to these documents. The revisions are needed to clarify procedures and improve consistency in application. NRCS State Conservationists in each of these States will incorporate their revised SOSM into Section I of their respective electronic Field Office Technical Guide (FOTG). As identified in the National Food Security Act Manual these revised methods may be used for completion of wetland determinations. Section 343 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 requires NRCS to make available for public review and comment all proposed revisions to methods and procedures used to carry out the Highly Erodible Land and wetland compliance provisions of the 1985 Food Security Act (as amended).

The Unites States Forest Service (USFS), Sierra National Forest, proposes to approve the Notice of Intent (NOI) and Plan of Operations (PoO) submitted by the Torosians to mine gold bearing alluvial gravels along an un-named perennial stream channel, tributary to West Fork Chiquito Creek.

As part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Service Agency (FSA) has submitted a Generic Information Collection Request (Generic ICR): ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery '' to OMB for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).

We are proposing to amend the fruit and vegetable regulations to allow the importation of tree tomatoes from Ecuador into the continental United States. As a condition of entry, the tree tomatoes would have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that would include requirements for importation in commercial consignments, registration and monitoring of places of production, field monitoring and pest-control practices, trapping, and inspection for quarantine pests by the national plant protection organization of Ecuador. This action would allow the importation of tree tomatoes from Ecuador while continuing to protect against the introduction of plant pests into the United States.

We are amending the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of fresh pitahaya fruit into the continental United States from Ecuador. As a condition of entry, the fruit will have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that includes requirements for fruit fly trapping, pre-harvest inspections, approved production sites, and packinghouse procedures designed to exclude quarantine pests. The fruit will also be required to be imported in commercial consignments and accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of Ecuador stating that the consignment was produced and prepared for export in accordance with the requirements of the systems approach. This action will allow for the importation of fresh pitahaya fruit from Ecuador while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of plant pests into the United States.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Commodity Credit Corporation's (CCC) intention to request a revision for a currently approved information collection in support of the CCC Export Credit Guarantee (GSM-102) Program based on current program levels and participants.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing amendments to the United States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef (beef standards). Specifically, AMS is proposing amendments to the beef standards that would allow dentition and documentation of actual age as additional methods of classifying maturity of carcasses presented to USDA for official quality grading. Currently, the standards include only skeletal and muscular evidence as a determination of classifying maturity of carcasses for the purposes of official USDA quality grading. Official USDA quality grading is used as an indication of meat palatability and is a major determining factor in live cattle and beef value.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request the reinstatement of an information collection for a National Animal Health Monitoring System Equine Herpesvirus Study to support the equine industry in the United States.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing the availability of and requesting comments on two updated compliance guidelines for small and very small businesses. The new guidelines will assist small and very small meat and poultry establishments understand and comply with the regulatory requirements associated with the destruction of Salmonella and other pathogens (lethality) in ready-to- eat (RTE) products and the control of pathogen growth in heat-treated RTE and not-ready-to-eat (NRTE) products during cooling and hot-holding (stabilization). FSIS is including the time-temperature tables and cooling options in these guidelines that were previously in Appendices A and B, originally made available in 1999, along with new recommendations establishments can use to achieve lethality and stabilization of these products.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is proposing to amend the poultry products inspection regulations to list the PRC as eligible to export to the United States poultry products from birds slaughtered in the PRC. The PRC is currently eligible to export processed poultry products to the United States if the products are derived from poultry slaughtered in the United States or in other countries eligible to slaughter and export poultry to the United States. FSIS is proposing this action because the Agency has reviewed the PRC's laws, regulations, and poultry slaughter inspection system as implemented and has determined that the PRC's poultry slaughter inspection system is equivalent to the system that the United States has established under the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) and its implementing regulations. Should this rule become final, slaughtered poultry, or parts or other products thereof, processed in certified PRC establishments, would be eligible for export to the United States. Although the PRC may be listed in FSIS's regulations as eligible to export poultry products to the United States, the products must also comply with all other applicable requirements of the United States, including those of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), before any products can enter the United States. All such products would be subject to re- inspection at United States ports-of-entry by FSIS inspectors.

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 Hass avocados from Mexico.

This Notice identifies the examination procedures that the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (the Agency) will use for non- leveraged Rural Business Investment Companies (RBICs) within the Rural Business Investment Program (RBIP).

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App., the United States Department of Agriculture announces the solicitation for nominations to fill vacancies on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board and its subcommittees. There are 9 vacancies on the NAREEE Advisory Board; 3 vacancies on the Specialty Crop Committee; 3 vacancies on the Citrus Disease Subcommittee; and 3 vacancies on the National Genetics Advisory Council.