Agricultural Marketing Service September 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is amending the Cotton Board Rules and Regulations, increasing the value assigned to imported cotton for the purposes of calculating supplemental assessments collected for use by the Cotton Research and Promotion Program. This amendment is required each year to ensure that assessments collected on imported cotton and the cotton content of imported products will be the same as those paid on domestically produced cotton. In addition, AMS is updating the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) statistical reporting numbers that were amended since the last assessment adjustment in 2021.

This advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) seeks input from stakeholders about how to update the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) organic regulations on inert ingredients in pesticides used in organic production. The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) seeks comments on alternatives to its existing regulations that would align with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) regulatory framework for inert ingredients. Information from public comments would inform AMS's approach to this topic, including any proposed revisions of the USDA organic regulations.