Department of Agriculture 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule establishes regulations for seasons, harvest limits, and methods and means related to the taking of wildlife for subsistence uses in Alaska for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 regulatory years. The Federal Subsistence Board (Board) completes the biennial process of revising subsistence hunting and trapping regulations in even-numbered years and subsistence fishing and shellfish regulations in odd-numbered years; public proposal and review processes take place during the preceding year. The Board also addresses customary and traditional use determinations during the applicable biennial cycle. This rule also revises the customary and traditional use determinations for wildlife.

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 payment of indemnity due to infectious salmon anemia.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35)(PRA), this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) intention to request approval, from the Office of Management and Budget, for an extension of and revision to the currently approved information collection in support of the reporting and recordkeeping requirements under the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921, as amended and supplemented (P&S Act). This approval is required under the PRA.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (Agency) is adopting a final rule amending its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. The final rule establishes new and revised categorical exclusions (pertaining to certain special use authorizations, infrastructure management activities, and restoration and resilience activities) and adds the determination of NEPA adequacy provision to the Agency's NEPA regulations. These amendments will increase efficiency in the Agency's environmental analysis and decision-making while meeting NEPA's requirements and fully honoring the Agency's environmental stewardship responsibilities. Public comment has informed and improved the final rule.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announces the opening of the solicitation for nominations to fill vacancies on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory BoardCitrus Disease Subcommittee. There are three vacancies on the Citrus Disease Subcommittee.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), United States Forest Service (Agency), is issuing a proposed directive for the Agency's State and Private Forestry Landscape Scale Restoration (LSR) Program. The Landscape Scale Restoration Program (LSR) is a USDA, Forest Service State and Private Forestry (S&PF) competitive grant program that promotes collaborative, science-based restoration of priority forest landscapes.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) revised sections of its Guidance for Grants and Agreements in August 2020. This final rule amends the regulations of several United States Department of Agriculture agencies to reflect the revised OMB guidance and make technical corrections to the Department's grants and agreements regulations.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has received a request to extend our determination of nonregulated status of Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.'s (Pioneer's) DP-32138-1 SPT maintainer maize to maize MS44 maintainer line DP56113 for use in the Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA) process (hereafter DP56113 SPTA maintainer maize). DP56113 SPTA maintainer maize has been genetically engineered for maintenance and recovery of male-sterile maize breeding lines using the same construct and method of transformation as DP-32138-1 SPT maintainer maize. We are making available for public comment the request and our plant pest risk similarity assessment and preliminary determination of nonregulated status.

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).

This document corrects the Supplementary Information to a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on October 5, 2020, regarding amendments to the Lamb Promotion, Research, and Information Order. This correction clarifies the assessment remittance process described in Examples 1 and 2 and removes the first paragraph in Example 5.

This final rule amends the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) section of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) organic regulations. This rule adds non-organic tamarind seed gum as an allowed ingredient in organic products when certified organic tamarind seed gum is not commercially available.

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS or the Agency), an agency of the U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA or the Department), is issuing a final rule to add regulations that will ensure the integrity of the supplemental allotments created by Section 1101 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), as amended by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act (CR) for households with children who would have otherwise received free or reduced price school meals under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, but for school closures or reduction in the number of days or hours that students attend school in response to the ongoing and national Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency. Such allotments are referred to as Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P- EBT) benefits. The CR extended the authority for P-EBT through Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, and also authorized P-EBT for households with at least one child enrolled in a covered child care facility (as defined by Section 1101(i)(1) of the FFCRA, as amended) and the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) when the covered child care facility is closed or has reduced attendance or hours or one or more schools in the area of the covered child care facility are closed or have reduced attendance or hours. This final rule would also safeguard the integrity of SNAP, as P-EBT operates within the SNAP infrastructure. USDA FNS is responsible for administering P-EBT and SNAP at the Federal level.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has received a petition from Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. seeking a determination of nonregulated status for DP23211 maize (corn). The corn is engineered for insect resistance against corn rootworm and contains the gene that codes for the phosphinothricin acetyltransferase protein responsible for tolerance to glufosinate-ammonium herbicides. DP23211 corn also contains the gene that encodes for the phosphomannose isomerase protein, which is used as a selectable marker. We are making the petition available for review and comment to help us identify potential issues and impacts that APHIS may determine should be considered in our evaluation of the petition.

We are advising the public that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has prepared an environmental assessment relative to permitting the release of Ramularia crupinae for the biological control of common crupina (Crupina vulgaris) in the contiguous United States. Based on the environmental assessment and other relevant data, we have reached a preliminary determination that the release of this control agent within the contiguous United States will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment. We are making the environmental assessment available to the public for review and comment.

Through this final rule, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (the Department or USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is codifying a revised statutory requirement included in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill). Section 4102 of the 2018 Farm Bill established new Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) certification requirements..

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is revising the U.S. Standards for Grades of Grapefruit (Texas and States other than Florida, California, and Arizona) and the U.S. Standards for Grades of Oranges (Texas and States other than Florida, California, and Arizona). The revision will convert the Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) tables from showing the acceptable number of allowable defective fruit in each grade to showing the percentage of defects permitted in each grade; revise the minimum sample size to 25 fruit; update size classifications; remove references to Temple oranges from the orange standards for grade; and more closely align terminology in both grade standards with Florida and California citrus standards.