2019-08091. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

April 17, 2019.

The Department of Agriculture will submit the following information collection requirement(s) to OMB for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 on or after the date of publication of this notice. Comments are requested regarding: (1) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology should be addressed to: Desk Officer for Agriculture, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC; New Executive Office Building, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20503. Commenters are encouraged to submit their comments to OMB via email to: [e-mail] or fax [phone] and to Departmental Clearance Office, USDA, OCIO, Mail Stop 7602, Washington, DC 20250-7602.

Comments regarding these information collections are best assured of having their full effect if received by May 23, 2019. Copies of the submission(s) may be obtained by calling [phone].

An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control number and the agency informs potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information that such persons are not required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)

Title: List Sampling Frame Survey—Substantive Change.

OMB Control Number: 0535-0140.

Summary of Collection: General authority for these data collection activities is granted under U.S. Code Title 7, Section 2204 which specifies that “The Secretary of Agriculture shall procure and preserve all information concerning agriculture which he can obtain . . . . by the collection of statistics . . .”. The primary objective of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is to provide data users with timely and reliable agricultural production and economic statistics, as well as environmental and specialty agricultural related statistics. To accomplish this objective, NASS relies heavily on the use of sample surveys statistically drawn from the “List Sampling Frame.” The List Sampling Frame is a database of names and addresses, with control data, that contains the components values from which these samples can be drawn.

Most of the surveys that NASS conducts are based on multiple frame samples. This multi-frame concept currently involves a List Frame, which consists of names of all known farm operators, and an Area Frame, which consists of all land in the United States. The Area Frame is used to measure incompleteness in the List Frame.

Currently, NASS is approved to use web-scraping to identify potential farm operators who are not currently on the NASS List Frame. The substantive change that NASS is proposing, involves adding an additional questionnaire to the currently approved docket. This is being done through the June Area Research Project (JARP) pilot study. The new questionnaire that is being added, will be the second phase of the JARP study. This two-phased pilot study is designed to assess the viability of replacing or reducing the NASS Area Frame with a web-scraped List Frame for the June Area Survey (JAS). JARP's second phase questionnaire will be administered via telephone, web and mail, thereby reducing or possibly eliminating the expensive in-person enumeration costs which are needed for the current Area Frame-based JAS.

The JARP study will be conducted in four states (Kansas, Nebraska, New York and Pennsylvania) in the summer of 2019. A parallel design study, also called a parallel group study, will be conducted. The “control” group will be the 2019 JAS sample, which will be drawn and analyzed using current production processes. The “treatment” group will be the sample collected within this pilot study. Data collected for JARP will be used to evaluate the efficacy of eliminating or reducing the need for NASS's Area Frame-based surveys.

This substantive change will add an additional 8,000 respondents and 1,697 hours of respondent burden to the currently approved totals.

Need and Use of the Information: The List Sampling Frame Surveys are used to develop and maintain a complete list of possible farm operations. Data from criteria surveys are used to provide control data for new records on the list sampling frame. This information is utilized to define the size of operation, define sample populations and establish eligibility for the Census of Agriculture. New names and addresses of potential farms are obtained on a regular basis from growers association, other government agencies and various outside sources. The goal is to produce for each State a relatively complete, current, and unduplicated list of names for statistical sampling for agricultural operation surveys and the Census of Agriculture. This information is used to develop efficient sample designs, which allows NASS the ability to draw reduced sample sizes from the originally large universe populations.

Description of Respondents: Farms.

Number of Respondents: 8,000.

Frequency of Responses: Reporting: On occasion.

Total Burden Hours: 1,697.

Kimble Brown,

Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer.