National Agricultural Statistics Service – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision to the currently approved information collection, the Bee and Honey survey docket (0535-0153). In addition NASS plans to merge this docket with the currently approved Colony Loss survey docket (0535-0255). Revision to burden hours will be needed due to a changes in the size of the target population, sample design, and the inclusion of the Colony Loss surveys.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request feedback from the general public on the ``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Programs''. This collection was developed as part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process for seeking feedback from the public on service delivery. This notice announces our intent to submit this collection to OMB for approval and solicits comments on specific aspects for the proposed information collection.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection, the Current Agricultural Industrial Reports (CAIR) program. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in the size of the target population, sampling design, and questionnaire length.

Under 44 U.S.C. 3506(e), and 44 U.S.C. 3501, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is renewing a revision to the confidentiality pledge it provides to its respondents under CIPSEA and Title 7, Chapter 55, Section 2276. This renewal will be valid for three years. The revision was originally approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on December 1, 2016 under an emergency request. The original request was warranted by the passage and implementation of provisions of the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015 (H.R. 2029, Division N, Title II, Subtitle B, Sec. 223), which permits and requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to provide federal civilian agencies' information technology systems with cybersecurity protection for their Internet traffic. More details on this announcement are presented in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection, the Aquaculture Surveys. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in NASS estimates programs, target population sizes, sampling designs, and/or content of questionnaires.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection, the Cotton Ginning Survey. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in the size of the target population, sampling design, and/or questionnaire length.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking renewal of the 2-year charter for its discretionary committee, the Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics. Effective October 1, 1996, responsibility for the census of agriculture program was transferred to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) at USDA from the Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. Effective February 2, 1997, NASS also received the transferred program positions and staff from the Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. Responsibility for the Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics, which is a discretionary committee and was established by agency authority, was transferred, along with its allocated slot, to USDA with the census of agriculture program.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection, the Nursery Production Survey and the Nursery and Floriculture Chemical Use Survey. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to the discontinuation of the Nursery and Christmas Tree Production Survey and the Nursery and Floriculture Chemical Use Survey, along with minor changes in the size of the target population, and/or questionnaire length for the two remaining surveys (Oregon Nursery Survey and the Oregon Christmas Tree Survey).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection, the Vegetable Surveys Program. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in the size of the target population, sampling design, and/or questionnaire length. Some of the vegetable production surveys will incorporate sampling of the total population of producers, while the processing surveys will involve a total enumeration of the entire population. Changes are being made to some of the questionnaires to accommodate changes in the industry and to make the questionnaires easier for the respondent to complete. This should help to reduce respondent burden and improve the overall response rates.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection for the Residue and Biomass Field Survey.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request extension without change of a currently approved information collection, the Generic Clearance for Survey Research Studies. There are no revisions to burden hours or the number of responses under this information collection request.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection, the Cold Storage Survey. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in the size of the target population, expected increases in response rates, and modes of data collection. The questionnaires have had some minor modifications to accommodate changes in the products stored by the industry, and to make the questionnaires easier to complete. The target population for cold storage operators (both mandatory and voluntary samples) will be contacted for this data on a monthly basis. Fruit storage operations are contacted on a monthlyseasonal basis. The capacity survey is conducted once every other year of all operations with refrigerated storage capacity. Most of these surveys are voluntary; the one exception is for operations that store certain manufactured dairy products that are required by Public Law 106-532 and 107-171 to respond.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announces a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to seek approval to conduct a new information collection to gather data related to the production and marketing of foods directly from farm producers to consumers or retailers. In addition NASS will collect some whole-farm data to be used to classify and group operations for summarizing and publication of results.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announces a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection, the Stocks Reports. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in the size of the target population, sampling design, and/or questionnaire length.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection, the Egg, Chicken, and Turkey Surveys. A revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in the size of the target population, sampling design, and/or questionnaire length.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to request revision and extension of a currently approved information collection for Field Crops Production. Revision to burden hours will be needed due to changes in the size of the target population, sampling design, the combining of several smaller surveys, and/or changes in questionnaire length.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to seek reinstatement of an information collection, the Census of Agriculture Content Test. Response to this survey will be voluntary.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, this notice announces an invitation from the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture for nominations to the Advisory Committee on Agriculture Statistics. On September 2, 2014, the Secretary of Agriculture renewed the Advisory Committee charter for a two-year term to expire on September 2, 2016. The purpose of the Committee is to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on the scope, timing, content, etc., of the periodic censuses and surveys of agriculture, other related surveys, and the types of information to obtain from respondents concerning agriculture. The Committee also prepares recommendations regarding the content of agriculture reports and presents the views and needs for data of major suppliers and users of agriculture statistics.