Agricultural Marketing Service April 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule decreases the assessment rate established for the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Potato Committee (Committee) for the 2014-2015 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.0045 to $0.0025 per hundredweight of potatoes handled. The Committee locally administers the marketing order which regulates the handling of potatoes grown in certain designated counties in Idaho, and Malheur County, Oregon. Assessments upon potato handlers are used by the Committee to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The fiscal period begins August 1 and ends July 31. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Sec. 3501-20), this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) intention to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget, for revision of two previously approved collections by merging them into a single information collection. AMS recently merged the Livestock, Poultry and Seed Program's Poultry Grading Branch and Grading and Verification Division. Due to this organizational merger, AMS intends to combine the following collections, 0581-0128 ``Regulations Governing the Voluntary Grading of Shell Eggs7 CFR part 56'' and 0581-0124 ``7 CFR part 54 Meats, Prepared Meats, and Meat Products (Grading, Certification, and Standards) and 7 CFR part 62 Quality Systems Verification Program (QSVP).'' These collections will be combined into a single collection retitled 0581-0128 ``Regulations for Voluntary Grading, Certification, and Standards7 CFR parts 54, 56, 62, and 70.''

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

This notice is intended to notify the public of their opportunity to attend an open meeting of the Plant Variety Protection Board.

On November 8, 2011, a final rule was published in the Federal Register (76 FR 69094) establishing an industry-funded promotion, research, and information program for fresh cut Christmas trees. The effective date of the final rule was November 9, 2011. On November 17, 2011, the Christmas Tree Promotion Research and Information Order (Order) date was stayed to provide all interested persons, including the Christmas tree industry and the general public, an opportunity to become more familiar with the program. The stay is being lifted in accordance with the provisions of the Agricultural Act of 2014.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is proposing to maintain user fees for cotton producers for 2014 crop cotton classification services under the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act at the same level as in 2013. These fees are also authorized under the Cotton Standards Act of 1923. The 2013 crop user fee was $2.20 per bale, and AMS proposes to continue the fee for the 2014 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 2014 crop, including costs for administration and supervision.