Department of Agriculture April 30, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing the 2019 rates it will charge for voluntary grading, inspection, certification, auditing, and laboratory services for a variety of agricultural commodities including meat and poultry, fruits and vegetables, eggs, dairy products, and cotton and tobacco. The 2019 regular, overtime, holiday, and laboratory services rates will be applied at the beginning of the crop year, fiscal year or as required by law depending on the commodity. Other starting dates are added to this notice based on cotton industry practices. This action establishes the rates for user-funded programs based on costs incurred by AMS. This year more than half of AMS user fee rates will remain unchanged or will decrease, but increases are necessary to many fees to cover costs. For consistency, audit fees will now be the same for all commodities at $115.00 per hour.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and applicable regulations of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), this notice announces the intention of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to seek reinstatement of the ARS Animal Health National Program Assessment Survey. This voluntary information collection will give the beneficiaries of ARS research the opportunity to provide input on the impact of research conducted by ARS in the last national program cycle for each respective national program. This input will be used in planning the research agenda for the next 5-year program cycle.