Department of Agriculture December 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are withdrawing a proposed rule that would have amended the horse protection regulations with respect to several program practices. We are taking this action to withdraw the proposed rule so that we may reevaluate these program practices based on the findings of research conducted after its publication.

This rule amends the regulations for Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) to allow supplemental DMC payments to participating eligible dairy operations. DMC provides dairy producers with risk management coverage that pays producers when the difference between the price of milk and the cost of feed (the margin) falls below a certain level. Eligible dairy operations with less than 5 million pounds of established production history may enroll supplemental pounds based upon a formula using 2019 actual milk marketings. Supplemental DMC coverage is applicable to calendar years 2021, 2022, and 2023. Participating dairy operations with supplemental production may receive supplemental payments in addition to payments based on their established production history. In addition, the rule amends the alfalfa hay calculation used in determining the average feed cost and actual dairy production margin. To end prolonged months of milk indemnity payments, the rule amends the regulations for Dairy Indemnity Payment Program (DIPP) to indemnify affected farmers for depopulating and permanently removing cows after discovery of chemical residues affecting the commercial marketing of milk for the applicable farm and likely affecting the marketability of cows for a lengthy duration. The rule also implements a new Oriental Fruit Fly (OFF) Program as authorized in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019. In addition, the rule updates the existing Marketing Assistance Loans (MAL) and Loan Deficiency Payments (LDP) loan rates to be consistent with the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill); the loan rates were already changed administratively because the loan rate changes were self-enacting. This rule also amends the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) regulations to remove two discretionary requirements.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS), a Rural Development agency (Agency) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces the availability of $3 million and the timeframe to submit applications for Multi-Family Housing Non-Profit Transfer Technical Assistance (MFHNPTA) Grants program from qualified nonprofits (NP) and public housing authorities (PHA) to provide technical assistance to RHS Multi-Family Housing (MFH) borrowers and applicants to facilitate the acquisition of Section 515 properties by NPs and PHAs.

The Rural BusinessCooperative Service (Agency), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development mission area (RD) announces the availability of approximately $1,000,000,000 in loan guarantees, applicant and application requirements, and servicing requirements under the Food Supply Chain (FSC) Guaranteed Loan Program for fiscal year (FY) 2022. Loan guarantees will be made to lenders to facilitate financing to qualified borrowers and projects for the start-up or expansion of activities in the middle of the food supply chain, particularly the aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation, wholesaling, or distribution of food, to increase capacity and help create a more resilient, diverse, and secure U.S. food supply chain.

Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974 and Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-108, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) give notice that a component agency, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) proposes to modify an existing system of records notice titled Emergency Management Response System (EMRS), USDA/APHIS-11. This system, among other things, helps APHIS to manage and investigate incidents of foreign animal diseases within the United States.

This rule implements a recommendation from the Avocado Administrative Committee to increase the assessment rate established for the 2021-22 and subsequent fiscal years. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

This proposed rule would implement a recommendation from the Administrative Committee for Pistachios (Committee) to increase the assessment rate established for 2021-22 and subsequent production years. The proposed assessment rate would remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) revised and renumbered certain provisions in its regulation establishing uniform administrative requirements, cost principles, and audit requirements for Federal awards to non-Federal entities. This final rule amends the USDA regulations on Grant Agreements for the Development of Foreign Markets for U.S. Agricultural Commodities (``MAP regulation'') to make technical corrections to reflect the revised OMB regulations. This final rule also makes several minor changes to the MAP regulation to modify the timing of the evaluation provision, add one additional exemption for a USA Pavilion waiver request, clarify the market representation in the contracting procedures provision, and add certain flexibilities to the origin statement and sample shipment requirements.

This final rule amends the USDA regulations on the Agriculture Pima Trust and Agriculture Wool Trust to make technical corrections to update outdated dates and references and to clarify the eligibility and manner in which payments will be calculated under the programs.

We are amending the regulations governing the importation of animals and animal products to revise conditions for the importation of live sheep, goats, and certain other non-bovine ruminants, and products derived from sheep and goats, with regard to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and scrapie. We are removing BSE-related import restrictions on sheep and goats and most of their products, and adding import restrictions related to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies for certain wild, zoological, or other non-bovine ruminant species. The conditions we are adopting for the importation of specified commodities are based on internationally accepted scientific literature and will generally align our regulations with guidelines established in the World Organization for Animal Health's Terrestrial Animal Health Code.

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 regarding production practices, costs and returns, and contractor expenses. This data is currently being collected under OMB number 0535-0218.

In the June 28, 2021, Federal Register, AMS asked persons interested in providing official U.S. Grain Standards Act services in the West Lafayette, Indiana designation area to submit an application. There are two applicants for the West Lafayette, Indiana area: Champaign-Danville Grain Inspection Departments, Inc. (Champaign) and North Dakota Grain Inspection Service, Inc. (North Dakota). Both applicants are currently designated official agencies and applied for designation to provide official services for the entire area formerly assigned to Titus Grain Inspection, Inc. Each applicant is also currently serving in an interim designation capacity. The geographic area is described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION below. We are asking for comments on these applicants.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed information collection. This collection is a revision of a currently approved collection (OMB Number 0584-0646) for the 2023 Farm to School Census.

In accordance with section 3(b) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is transmitting the final boundary of Crescent Creek National Wild and Scenic River to Congress and providing notice of availability of the Comprehensive River Management Plan.

This document makes technical corrections to Forest Service regulations regarding National Forest System land management planning. The correction reinstates paragraphs that were inadvertently removed from a final rule published on December 15, 2016.