Farm Service Agency 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule implements specific requirements for the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (SURE) authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the 2008 Farm Bill). SURE provides disaster assistance to eligible participants who have experienced qualifying crop production losses, or crop quality losses, or both, occurring in crop year 2008 through September 30, 2011. All crops for which crop insurance or noninsured crop disaster assistance program (NAP) coverage is available are eligible crops for SURE. To be eligible for SURE payments, participants must meet a risk management purchase requirement, with some exceptions, and have suffered a qualifying loss due to disaster. A qualifying loss is a loss of at least 10 percent of a crop of economic significance on a participant's farm in a disaster county (a county for which a Secretarial disaster declaration has been issued or a county contiguous to such a county), or on a participant's farm with an overall loss greater than 50 percent of normal production (expected revenue for all crops on the farm) due to disaster. This rule specifies how a qualifying loss is determined, how SURE payments are calculated, and how and when participants may apply for payment.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) are seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on a revision of a currently approved information collection request. This information collection is necessary to support the procurement of agricultural commodities for domestic and export food donation programs. FSA and CCC issue invitations to purchase or process commodities for food assistance programs on monthly, multiple monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. Special invitations, however, are issued throughout the month. The revision to the information collection request is to support the implementation of a new system named Web Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) that will allow respondents to submit information electronically. This new system will replace some of the existing paper forms in this information collection and reduce the burden on respondents. WBSCM will eventually replace all other existing forms in this information collection.

This rule implements specific requirements for the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) and the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill). LFP provides payments to eligible livestock producers that have suffered livestock grazing losses due to qualifying drought or fire. For drought, the losses must have occurred on land that is native or improved pastureland with permanent vegetative cover or is planted to a crop planted specifically for grazing for covered livestock due to a qualifying drought during the normal grazing period for the county. For fire, LFP provides payments to eligible livestock producers that have suffered grazing losses on rangeland managed by a Federal agency if the eligible livestock producer is prohibited by the Federal agency from grazing the normal permitted livestock on the managed rangeland due to a qualifying fire. ELAP provides emergency assistance to eligible producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish that have losses due to disease, adverse weather, or other conditions, including losses due to blizzards and wildfires, as determined by the Secretary. ELAP assistance is for losses not covered under other Supplemental Agricultural Disaster Assistance Payment programs established by the 2008 Farm Bill, specifically LFP, Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), and Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE). Eligible LFP and ELAP losses must have occurred on or after January 1, 2008, and before October 1, 2011. This rule specifies how LFP and ELAP payments are calculated, what losses are eligible, and when producers may apply for payments.

The Secretary of Agriculture is renewing the charter of the Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers (Committee). The Committee provides advice to the Secretary on ways to encourage Federal and State beginning farmer programs to provide joint financing to beginning farmers and ranchers, and other methods of creating new farming and ranching opportunities. This notice invites nominations for persons to service on the Committee.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting applications for competitive cooperative agreement funds for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 for the credit outreach initiative targeted to American Indian farmers, ranchers, and youth residing primarily on Indian reservations within the contiguous United States. Subject to the availability of appropriations, FSA anticipates the availability of up to $1,135,000 in funding and the award to one successful applicant through a Cooperative Agreement. This request for applications is being made prior to passage of an FY 2010 appropriations bill to allow applicants sufficient time to submit proposals, give the Agency maximum time to process applications, and permit continuity of this program. There is no certainty that there will be appropriated funds to fund these applications, so applicants submitting applications prior to the availability of appropriated funds do so at the risk that there may be no funding. FSA requests proposals from eligible nonprofit organizations, land-grant institutions, and federally-recognized Indian tribal governments interested in a competitively-awarded cooperative agreement to create and implement a mechanism that will provide credit outreach and promotion, pre-loan education, and one-on-one loan application preparation assistance to American Indian farmers, ranchers, and youth. Successful proposals may include other innovative services intended to enhance participation by American Indians in specific FSA Agricultural Credit Programs.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is making available the Food Aid Quality Project report prepared by Sharing Science and Technology to Aid in the Improvement of Nutrition (SUSTAIN). The report contains recommendations for improvements in the specifications, micronutrient composition, commodity sampling, and testing regimes for commodities procured by FSA for the U.S. international food assistance programs.

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 associated with the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is seeking comments from all interested individuals and organizations on an extension of a currently approved information collection associated with Highly Erodible Land Conservation and Wetland Conservation certification requirements. This information is collected in support of the conservation compliance provisions of Title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 (the 1985 Farm Bill), as amended by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the 2008 Farm Bill).

This rule implements the general eligibility provisions for all the supplemental agricultural disaster assistance programs authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) and the specific requirements for the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP). LIP provides disaster assistance for livestock losses. LIP applies only to livestock owners and contract growers that had losses due to livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality due to adverse weather during the calendar year, including losses due to hurricanes, floods, blizzards, disease, wildfires, extreme heat, and extreme cold. Eligible LIP losses must have occurred on or after January 1, 2008, and before October 1, 2011. This rule specifies how the LIP payments are calculated and when producers may apply for benefits. This rule also removes some outdated rules from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting comments from all interested individuals and organizations on a revision of a currently approved information collection, Request for Aerial Photography. The revision adds two new collections to the existing information collection. The new Aerial Photography Field Office (APFO) Service Quality Survey will be provided to the customers who purchased the aerial photography and the collected information will be used to improve the products and services. The new APFO Custom Digital Print Request will be available to the producers, ranchers and other customers to place a special order for aerial custom digital print.