Agricultural Marketing Service March 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is proposing to maintain user fees for cotton producers for 2011 crop cotton classification services under the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act at the same level as in 2010. These fees are also authorized under the Cotton Standards Act of 1923. The 2010 crop user fee was $2.20 per bale, and AMS proposes to continue the fee for the 2011 cotton crop at that same level. This proposed fee and the existing reserve are sufficient to cover the costs of providing classification services for the 2011 crop, including costs for administration and supervision.

This document directs that a referendum be conducted among eligible Washington potato growers to determine whether they favor continuance of the marketing order regulating the handling of Irish potatoes grown in Washington.

This document implements amendments to the Dairy Promotion and Research Order (Order). This action is pursuant to the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (2002 Farm Bill) and the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill). The 2002 Farm Bill mandates that the Order be amended to implement an assessment on imported dairy products to fund promotion and research and to add importer representation, initially two members, to the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board (Board). The 2008 Farm Bill specifies a mandatory assessment rate of 7.5 cents per hundredweight of milk, or equivalent thereof, on dairy products imported into the United States. This final rule, in accordance with the 2008 Farm Bill, also amends the term ``United States'' in the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 (Act) to mean all States, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Producers in these areas will be assessed 15 cents per hundredweight for all milk produced and marketed.

The Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) is removing from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) referendum procedures for the proposed U.S. Honey Producer Research, Promotion, and Consumer Information Order (Proposed Order). The Proposed Order was not approved during referendum and thus was not implemented. Therefore, referendum procedures for this Proposed Order are no longer necessary and the part is removed in its entirety.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting as final, without change, an interim rule published in the Federal Register on August 24, 2010 (75 FR 51919). The interim rule amended the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) based upon a recommendation submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) on April 29, 2010. Consistent with the recommendation from the NOSB, the interim rule revised the annotation of one substance on the National List, methionine, to extend its use in organic poultry production until October 1, 2012, at the following maximum levels of synthetic methionine per ton of feed: laying chickens4 pounds; broiler chickens5 pounds; turkeys and all other poultry6 pounds.

This document announces the second meeting of the Wholesale Pork Reporting Negotiated Rulemaking Committee (Committee). The primary purpose of the Committee is to develop proposed language to amend the Livestock Mandatory Reporting (LMR) regulations to implement mandatory pork price reporting, as directed by the Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-239).

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing a forthcoming meeting of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).

This rule decreases the assessment rate established for the California Olive Committee (Committee) for 2011 and subsequent fiscal years from $44.72 to $16.61 per ton of olives handled. The Committee locally administers the marketing order which regulates the handling of olives grown in California. Assessments upon olive handlers are used by the Committee to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The fiscal year began January 1 and ends December 31. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.