Farm Service Agency May 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This interim final rule amends the regulations for the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) to implement provisions of the Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriation to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006 (Pub. L. 109-149) (2006 Act) providing assistance to nursery, oyster, and poultry producers and non-industrial private forest landowners to rehabilitate public or private oyster reefs or farmland damaged by hurricanes during calendar year 2005.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on the extension of a currently approved information collection with revision in support of the Disaster Assistance program. The information collection is needed to identify disaster areas and establish eligible FSA counties for the purpose of making emergency loans available to eligible and qualified farmers and ranchers. The total burden hours have been revised to reflect the number of Secretarial requests for natural disaster assistance during the 2005 crop year.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) issues this interim final rule in response to emergency agricultural situations caused by the 2005 Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Ophelia, Rita, and Wilma in certain counties in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas. The named hurricanes severely limited the purchasing power of farmers engaged in the production of agricultural commodities. This rule provides for the establishment of four hurricane disaster programs and one grant program using an estimated $250 million in funds available under section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935, to be administered by FSA in order to provide funds to eligible producers who suffered eligible losses, thus reestablishing these producers' purchasing power. The grants will be provided to the respective States to enable them to assist aquaculture producers having losses related to the aforementioned 2005 hurricanes.