Department of Agriculture 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35, as amended), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS) announces its' intention to request a revision of a currently approved information collection and invites comments on this information collection.

Pursuant to section 135 of the Trade Act of 1974 and the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, notice is hereby given that the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary), in coordination with the United States Trade Representative (Trade Representative or USTR), intends to renew the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee (APAC) and the related Agricultural Technical Advisory Committees (ATACs) for Trade to provide detailed policy and technical advice, information, and recommendations regarding trade barriers, negotiation of trade agreements, and implementation of existing trade agreements affecting food and agricultural products, including the performance of other advisory functions relevant to U.S. agricultural trade policy matters. The establishment and renewal of such committees is in the public interest in connection with the duties of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) imposed by the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. In addition, the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) continues to welcome nominations for persons to serve on APAC and ATACs.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is announcing a meeting of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). The NOSB assists the USDA in the development of standards for substances to be used in organic production and advises the Secretary of Agriculture on any other aspects of the implementation of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA).

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, and Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-108 Federal Agency Responsibilities for Review, Reporting, and Publication under the Privacy Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposes a new system of records, USDA/OSSP-1, the Enterprise Physical Access Control System (ePACS). The Office of the Safety, Security, and Protections maintains ePACS, which contains the information required to control physical access to USDA managed facilities and restricted areas within the facilities in all regions across the United States. The notice also conveys the system location, categories of records, routine uses (one of which permits records to be provided to the National Archives and Records Administration), storage, safeguards, retention and disposal, system manager and address, notification procedures, records access, and contesting procedures.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the importation of beef and ovine meat from Uruguay and beef from Argentina and Brazil.

The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (the Agency) published a Notice of Solicitation of Applications (NOSA) in the Federal Register on March 31, 2023, entitled Notice of Solicitation of Applications for the Rural Energy for America Program for Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024 to announce the availability of $1.055 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funds across six quarterly cycles to be obligated by September 30, 2024. The Notice also announced the types of projects that would qualify for a federal grant share not to exceed 50 percent of the project cost, a set-aside for underutilized renewable energy technologies (underutilized technologies), as well as scoring revisions to support Administration priorities. This correction notice is amending the definition of underutilized renewable energy technologies.

The Rural Utilities Services (RUS or the Agency), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces its Technical Assistance and Construction for Innovative Regional Wastewater Treatment Solutions (TAC-RWTS) Grant Pilot Program application window for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. Grants may be made to eligible entities for the study, design, or construction of regional wastewater systems for historically impoverished communities in areas that have had difficulty installing traditional wastewater treatment systems due to soil conditions. Solutions must be innovative and account for strategic management and regulatory models. Successful applications will be selected by the Agency for funding and subsequently awarded from available funds for the TAC-RWTS Grant Pilot Program. All applicants are responsible for any expenses incurred in developing their applications.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the provisions of the rules and regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), that a public meeting of the USDA Equity Commission (EC or Commission), Subcommittee for Agriculture and the Rural Community Economic Development (RCED) Subcommittee will convene to continue its work reviewing USDA programs, services, and policies for the purpose of making recommendations for how the Department can improve access and advance equity.

Teresa Benson, the Forest Supervisor for the Sequoia National Forest, Pacific Southwest Region, and Dean Gould, the Forest Supervisor for the Sierra National Forest, Pacific Southwest Region, signed final records of decision (RODs) for revised land management plans for the Sequoia and Sierra National Forests, respectively. The final RODs document the rationale for approving the revised land management plans and are consistent with the Reviewing Officer's response to objections and instructions.

In accordance with The Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, USDA FNS is providing notice of a new computer matching program (CMP) between FNS and the State agencies that administer the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The CMP allows State agencies access to the National Accuracy Clearinghouse (NAC), a national database operated by FNS, as a tool to prevent individuals from receiving SNAP benefits in more than one State simultaneously, commonly referred to as duplicate participation. State agencies provide information about SNAP applicants and participants to the NAC that is then compared to discover potential duplicate participation. The NAC CMP employs a Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage (PPRL) approach that identifies and links records that correspond to the same individual across different databases, without the need to collect or retain the names, Social Security numbers, or dates of birth of the individuals being matched. State agencies use the PPRL process to convert this information to a secure cryptographic hash before sharing it to the NAC. When a match is found, indicating potential duplicate participation, the NAC notifies the affected State agencies and facilitates communication between the State agencies as they each take action to resolve the match.

This document directs that a referendum be conducted among eligible cranberry producers to determine whether they favor continuance of the marketing order regulating the handling of cranberries grown in the States of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Long Island in the State of New York.

The Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) Program is intended for governmental entities and non-profits that foster economic development, job creation and business creation in rural and Tribal communities. Eligible applicants for RBDG assistance include rural towns, communities, State agencies, authorities, nonprofit corporations, institutions of higher education, Federally recognized Tribes (https://www.bia.gov/service/tribal-leaders-directory) and cooperatives (if organized as a private nonprofit corporation). USDA intends to improve Tribal Government participation in the program. This proposed rule seeks to increase Tribal Government participation with programmatic amendments.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the interstate movement of sheep and goats and an indemnity program for controlling the spread of scrapie.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS or Agency), an agency in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Mission area, published a final rule with comment in the Federal Register on March 1, 2023, to modify its coverage ratio requirements, add an additional set of ratios, update definitions, and add definitions. Through this action, RUS is confirming the final rule as it was published as no public comments were received.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) is hosting listening sessions and requesting public input about the prevented planting provisions of the Common Crop Insurance Policy (CCIP), Basic Provisions. Prevented planting is a feature of many crop insurance plans that provides a payment to cover certain pre-plant costs for a crop that was prevented from being planted due to an insurable cause of loss. FCIC is interested in public input on the following: additional prevented planting coverage based on harvest prices in situations when harvest prices are higher than established prices initially set by FCIC prior to planting; the requirement that acreage must have been planted to a crop, insured, and harvested, in at least 1 of the 4 most recent crop years; additional levels of prevented planting coverage; prevented planting coverage on contracted crops; and other general prevented planting questions. We invite stakeholders to respond to this request for information or to participate in the listening session(s). All listening sessions will be posted publicly and open to the public for registration.

The Forest Service (Forest Service or Agency), United States Department of Agriculture, published a proposed rule in the Federal Register on March 9, 2023, initiating a 60-day comment period on the proposed rule to amend its special use regulations to update the processing and monitoring fee schedules based on current Agency costs; to provide for recovery of costs associated with processing special use proposals, as well as applications; and to remove the exemption for commercial recreation special use applications and authorizations that involve 50 hours or less to process or monitor. In addition, the Forest Service is proposing to amend its special use regulations to increase the strict liability limit consistent with the strict liability limit established by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, and to expressly provide for requiring holders of a special use authorization to obtain insurance, as needed. The comment period for the original document closed May 8, 2023. The Agency is reopening the comment period for an additional 30 days from the date of publication of this document.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, section 1408 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, and the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announces a meeting of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board.

The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail Advisory Council will hold a public meeting according to the details shown below. The committee is authorized under the National Trails System Act (the Act) and operates in compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The purpose of the committee is to advise and make recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Chief of the Forest Service, on matters relating to the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail as described in the Act.