Farm Service Agency 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting comments from all interested individuals and entities on an extension of a currently approved information collection associated with FSA county committee elections. The collection of information from FSA farmers and ranchers is used to receive nominations from eligible voters for the FSA county committee.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting comments from all interested individuals and organizations on a new information collection request associated with Urban Agriculture Cooperative Agreements. The awarded cooperators are assisting FSA in providing outreach, education, resources, and technical assistance for urban agriculture producers to access USDA programs and focus on long-term food sovereignty in historically marginalized and underfunded communities.

The Rural Utilities Service, Rural Business-Cooperative Service, and Rural Housing Service, agencies that comprise the Rural Development (RD) Mission Area within the United States Department of Agriculture, published a final rule with comment in the Federal Register on September 15, 2020, to establish the special authority authorized by Section 6210 of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, which will assist rural families and small businesses in gaining access to broadband service by permitting recipients of loans, grants, and loan guarantees from RD to use up to 10 percent of the amount provided to construct broadband infrastructure in areas not served by the minimum acceptable level of broadband service. The final rule described the procedures by which these agencies will consider projects eligible for special broadband authority. Through this action, the agencies are confirming the final rule as it was published and providing responses to the public comments that were received.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is issuing this notice announcing ELRP 2022. This document provides the eligibility requirements and payment calculation for ELRP 2022 assistance. ELRP 2022 will provide payments to producers who faced increased supplemental feed costs as a result of forage losses due to a qualifying drought or wildfire in calendar year 2022, using data already submitted to FSA through the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), the Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) is requesting comments from all interested individuals and organizations on an extension of a currently approved Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Customer Feedback on the Service Delivery (0560-0286). The Farm Service Agency (FSA) initially received the PRA approval for this information collection request and has expanded it to cover all four of the agencies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) mission area. FPAC uses the approval to cover the surveys, window pop-up surveys, focus groups, beta testing new or revised electronic systems, comment cards, and other information collection instruments or methods, which are designed to get customer feedback on service delivery for various programs administered by any of the FPAC agencies. This request for approval broadly addresses the need for information about what our customers think of our services so that we can improve service delivery; specific information collection activities will be incorporated into the approval as the need for the information is identified. For example, when we implement a new program and provide information about the services for the program on our website, we may provide a voluntary customer service questionnaire about how well the program is working for our customers, specifically within the area of customer service.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requirement, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting comments from all interested individuals and organizations on the three Farm Programs' information collection requests. The three collection requests in the Farm Programs are: Disaster AssistanceGeneral (0560- 0170), Transfer of Records between Counties (0560-0253) and Customer Data Worksheet Request for Business Partner Record (0560-0265). In the Disaster AssistanceGeneral, the information collection is needed to identify disaster areas and establish eligibility for both primary disaster counties and those counties contiguous to such disaster counties for assistance from FSA. This assistance includes FSA emergency loans which are available to eligible and qualified farmers and ranchers. In the Customer Data Worksheet Request for Business Partner Record, FSA is using the collected information in support of documenting critical producer data (for example, customer name, current mailing address, tax identification number) made at the request of the producer to obtain, correct or update their information. In the Transfer of Records Between Counties, FSA is using the collected information to approve or disapprove the transfer of farm records from one FSA county office to another.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is announcing an increase in the initial funding for EGSFP to $80 million, which will be the final funding amount for the program, from the initially announced $20 million due to the high demand for EGSFP. FSA published a notice of funding availability (NOFA) notice on March 16, 2023, announcing the availability of $20 million for EGSFP. EGSFP provides financial assistance to eligible grain producers who were affected by an eligible disaster event that damaged or destroyed local commercial grain elevators. EGSFP is cost-share assistance to construct storage facilities needed to meet on-farm grain storage capacity and handling needs necessary to support the marketing of grain for producers. This notice updates the initial funding amount for the program from $20 million to $80 million and closes the application period for the program due to the current volume of applications received. This notice will not change any other information in the original EGSFP NOFA.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requirements, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting comments from all interested individuals and organizations on a new collection associated with the new automated FSA Online Loan Application for Direct Loan Making Program and Direct Loan ServicingPrimary. For both Direct Loan Making and Direct Loan ServicingPrimary, the collected information is used in eligibility and feasibility determinations for loan making and loan servicing actions. Future releases of the FSA Online Loan Application will provide additional functionality and components for Direct Loan Making & Direct Loan ServicingPrimary applications.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA), on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), is announcing the availability of marketing assistance funding to organic dairy operations in the United States. Eligible Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program (ODMAP) participants will receive a one-time payment to assist with projected marketing costs for 2023, calculated based on a cost share of marketing costs on the pounds of organic milk marketed for the 2022 calendar year (or a projection of 2023 pounds of organic milk marketed if warranted in certain situations supported by documentation), not to exceed 5 million pounds per operation to target smaller organic dairy operations. ODMAP payments will assist organic dairy producers in expanding the market for organic dairy and increasing the consumption of organic dairy, through the continued marketing of organic dairy, as these operations face a variety of marketing challenges and input cost increases and supply chain-related shortages.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is announcing the availability of funding for the Rice Production Program (RPP) to provide financial assistance to rice producers affected by higher production costs during the 2022 crop year. RPP will provide a one-time payment to assist rice producers with additional expenses associated with the 2022 crop year costs for rice. In this document, FSA is providing the eligibility requirements, application process, and payment calculation for RPP.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requirement, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting comments from all interested individuals and organizations on a revision of two currently approved information collection requests, Direct Loan ServicingRegular and Servicing Minor Program Loans, respectively. In the Direct Loan ServicingRegular, the information is used to determine borrower compliance with loan agreements, assist the borrower in achieving business goals, and regular servicing of the loan account such as graduation, subordination, partial release, use of proceeds, and consent. In Servicing Minor Program Loans, the information collected is used to perform routine and special servicing actions for loans authorized and serviced under FSA's Minor Loan Program.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting comments from all interested individuals and organizations on an extension with a revision of a current information collection request for Inventory Property Management. For Inventory Property Management, the collected information is used to evaluate applicant requests to purchase inventory property, determine eligibility to lease or purchase inventory property, and ensure the payment of the lease amount or purchase amount associated with the acquisition of inventory property.

This rule announces Phase 2 of the Emergency Relief Program (ERP), which provides assistance to producers who suffered crop losses due to wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, winter storms, freeze (including a polar vortex), smoke exposure, excessive moisture, and qualifying droughts occurring in calendar years 2020 and 2021. It also announces Pandemic Assistance Revenue Program (PARP), a new program that provides support for agricultural producers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, this rule makes changes to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP); the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP); the Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP); the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP); the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP); the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP); the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP); and general payment eligibility provisions. This rule also makes a technical correction to the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP).