Department of Agriculture October 5, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Rural Utilities Services (RUS), a Rural Development agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces the availability of up to $5 million in competitive grants to eligible entities to fund a new pilot program. This pilot program, called the Technical Assistance and Training for Innovative Regional Wastewater Treatment Solutions (TAT/RWTS) Grant Pilot Program, was authorized by the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, for the study and design of innovative treatment solutions of regional wastewater systems for historically impoverished communities that have had difficulty installing traditional wastewater treatment systems due to soil conditions.

We are amending the regulations governing the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP). These amendments establish a U.S. Newcastle Disease Clean program within the NPIP, create an NPIP subpart specific to game birds, revise testing requirements, and clarify existing provisions of the regulations. We are also amending the regulations concerning the payment of indemnity and compensation for low pathogenic avian influenza to reflect current policy and operational practices, and allowing NPIP voting delegates to represent multiple States during the Biennial Conferences. These changes were voted on and approved by the voting delegates at the NPIP's 2018 National Plan Conference.

AMS solicits comments on proposed amendments to the Lamb Promotion, Research, and Information Order (Order). These amendments would require market agencies (e.g. commission merchant, auction market, livestock market) in the business of receiving lambs to collect and remit on behalf of the producer, feeder, or seedstock producer, the ``live-weight'' assessment on ovine animals sold and the ``price-per- head'' assessment owed by the first handler when lambs are sold through these channels. Market agencies would remit the full assessment to the American Lamb Board (Board) when ovine animals are sold. This proposed rule would also make technical amendments to the Order, correcting references to assessment rates that were inadvertently not updated during the previous amendment to the Order.