Agricultural Marketing Service June 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking comments from the public regarding the United States (U.S.) Standards for Canola under the United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA). To ensure that standards and official grading practices remain relevant, AMS invites interested parties to comment on whether the current canola standards and grading practices need to be changed.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 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.

This final rule implements a recommendation from the Almond Board of California (Board) to revise the adjusted kernel weight computation currently prescribed under the Marketing Order for almonds grown in California. In addition, this action allows adjustments to the calculated percentages for foreign material, excess moisture, or inedible kernels so that the sum of the percentages for the specified measurements equals 100 percent.

This document contains corrections to the proposed rule published on May 4, 2018, regarding a new national mandatory bioengineered food disclosure standard. Corrections are made to the notice of proposed rule making's (NPRM) Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis to clarify that the proposed rule, if finalized, is not expected to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, but that comments are sought on the analysis and that USDA is not certifying that the proposed rule would have no significant adverse impact on a substantial number of small businesses.

This rule amends the Rules of Practice governing Marketing Orders and Marketing Agreements (MOMA), and Research, Promotion, and Information (R&P) programs overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to include a definition of the term ``mail''. It also modifies an authority citation to ensure all appropriate authorities are included.

This final rule establishes a Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) regulating the handling of milk in California. This final rule issues a marketing order incorporating the entire state of California and adopts the same dairy product classification and pricing provisions used throughout the current FMMO system. The California FMMO provides for the recognition of producer quota as administered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. More than the required number of producers for the California marketing area have approved the issuance of the order. This final rule also announces AMS's intention to merge the information collection forms used to conduct the producer referendum with the reporting forms used in the other dairy marketing orders.