[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 197 (Thursday, October 10, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63070-63073]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-25841]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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Federal Register / Vol. 67, No. 197 / Thursday, October 10, 2002 /
Notices
[[Page 63070]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Farm Service Agency
Notice of Funds Availability; 2002 Livestock Compensation Program
AGENCY: Farm Service Agency, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This Notice announces the availability of $752 million under
section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935 (section 32) to implement the
2002 Livestock Compensation Program (LCP). Livestock feed supplies and
grazing availability have been significantly reduced due to the extreme
drought that has occurred throughout much of the United States during
2001 and 2002. The LCP was created by the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to provide immediate financial assistance to the
producers of eligible beef, dairy, buffalo, beefalo, sheep or goats, or
cash lessees of eligible livestock, in certain States and counties to
offset losses due to drought. Funds will be provided to eligible
applicants in counties declared under a disaster designation made after
January 1, 2001, or submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture, by the
Governor of a State or a Tribal Leader of an Indian Reservation, no
later than September 19, 2002. The county must be approved by the
Secretary to be eligible for the LCP. Complete eligibility criteria and
application procedures are provided in the notice below. The Farm
Service Agency (FSA) will determine eligible producers and the amount
of assistance that will be paid.
DATES: FSA began accepting applications on October 1, 2002. The
application deadline will be determined by the Deputy Administrator for
Farm Programs of FSA. Payments will be issued to applicants meeting all
eligibility requirements beginning October 7, 2002.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lynn Tjeerdsma, Chief, Emergency
Preparedness and Programs Branch, USDA/FSA, 1400 Independence Ave. SW,
STOP 0517, Washington, D.C. 20250-0522; telephone (202) 720-7641;
facsimile (202) 690-3610; electronic mail: Lynn--
[email protected] Persons with disabilities who require
alternative means for communication of regulatory information (braille,
large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at
(202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Executive Order 12372
This program is not subject to the provisions of Executive Order
12372, which requires consultation with State and local officials.
Environmental Compliance
Due to the drought-related emergency requiring the Agency to
provide immediate relief, sufficient time was not available to complete
an environmental review prior to implementing the proposed action.
Therefore, an environmental assessment is being completed to consider
the potential impacts of this proposed action on the human environment
in accordance with the provisions of the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., the regulations of the
Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508), and FSA's
regulations for compliance with NEPA, 7 CFR part 799. A copy of the
draft environmental assessment will be made available for public review
and comment upon request.
Paperwork Reduction Act
A request for emergency clearance of the information collections
associated with this notice has been approved by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) under 5 CFR 1320.13(a)(2)(iii), and been
assigned OMB control number 0560-0223.
I. Definitions
The following definitions are applicable to the 2002 Livestock
Compensation Program:
Adult beef cows are female bovine livestock, of a breed used for
the purpose of providing meat for human consumption, that have
delivered one or more offspring, at any time before June 1, 2002.
Adult beef bulls are male bovine livestock, of a breed used for the
purpose of providing meat for human consumption, to be used for
breeding purposes, that were two years old on or before June 1, 2002.
Adult buffalo and beefalo cows are female livestock of those
breeds, used for the purpose of providing meat for human consumption,
that have delivered one or more offspring, at any time before June 1,
2002.
Adult buffalo and beefalo bulls are male livestock of those breeds,
used for the purpose of providing meat for human consumption, to be
used for breeding purposes that were two years old on or before June 1,
2002.
Adult dairy bulls are male bovine livestock that are two years old
on or before June 1, 2002, of a breed used for producing milk for human
consumption, for breeding dairy cows.
Adult dairy cows are female bovine livestock, used for the purpose
of providing milk for human consumption, that have delivered one or
more offspring, at any time before June 1, 2002.
Agency is the Farm Service Agency, its employees, and any successor
agency.
Applicant is the individual or business entity applying for
assistance.
Application means the Form FSA-553, Livestock Compensation Program
(LCP) Application. The FSA-553 is available at FSA county service
centers and on the Internet.
Beef bulls are male bovine livestock, used for the purpose of
providing meat for human consumption, that as of June 1, 2002, weighed
more than 500 pounds and were less than two years old.
Beef replacement heifers and non-breeding heifers are female bovine
livestock, used for the purpose of providing meat for human
consumption, that as of June 1, 2002, weighed more than 500 pounds and
had never delivered any offspring.
Beef steers are neutered male bovine livestock, used for the
purpose of providing meat for human consumption, that weighed more than
500 pounds on or before June 1, 2002.
Buffalo and beefalo bulls are male livestock of those breeds, used
for the purpose of providing meat for human consumption, that as of
June 1, 2002,
[[Page 63071]]
that weighed more than 500 pounds and were less than two years old.
Buffalo and beefalo replacement heifers and buffalo and beefalo
non-breeding heifers are female livestock of those breeds, used for the
purpose of providing meat for human consumption, that as of June 1,
2002, weighed more than 500 pounds and had never delivered any
offspring.
Buffalo and beefalo steers are neutered male livestock of those
breeds, used for the purpose of providing meat for human consumption,
that weighed more than 500 pounds on or before June 1, 2002.
Business Entity is a corporation, partnership, joint operation,
trust, limited liability company, or cooperative.
Dairy bulls are male bovine livestock, of a breed used for the
purpose of providing milk for human consumption, that as of June 1,
2002, weighed more than 500 pounds and were less than two years old.
Dairy replacement heifers and dairy non-breeding heifers are female
bovine livestock, of a breed used for the purpose of providing milk for
human consumption, that as of June 1, 2002, weighed more than 500
pounds and had never delivered any offspring.
Dairy steers are neutered male bovine livestock, of a breed used
for the purpose of providing milk for human consumption, that weighed
more than 500 pounds on or before June 1, 2002.
Deputy Administrator or DAFP means the Deputy Administrator for
Farm Programs, Farm Service Agency (FSA), or a designee.
Eligible County is a county that was named as a primary county
under a Secretarial disaster designation after January 1, 2001, for
damages and losses due to drought; or for which a Governor of a State
or a Tribal Leader of an Indian Reservation, requested a disaster
designation no later than September 19, 2002, for damages and losses
due to drought, and was subsequently approved by the Secretary as a
primary county.
Eligible livestock are certain beef and dairy cattle, buffalo and
beefalo, sheep, and goats that an eligible livestock producer owned, or
cash-leased for 90 or more days, and that were owned or subject to a
cash lease on June 1, 2002. Certain beef and dairy cattle, buffalo and
beefalo, sheep, and goats, subject to a contract for purchase by the
applicant, that was negotiated prior to June 1, 2002, are eligible
livestock.
Eligible livestock producer is an owner or lessee of eligible
livestock whose livestock operation headquarters is physically located
in an eligible county.
Goats are domesticated, bearded, horned, ruminant mammals of the
genus Capra, including Angora goats.
Ineligible livestock are any beef cattle, buffalo, beefalo, dairy
cattle, sheep and goats that on June 1, 2002, were not owned or subject
to a cash lease or under contract to be purchased by an applicant; and
are any beef cattle, buffalo, and dairy cattle that, as of June 1,
2002, weighed less than 500 pounds; and also include livestock owned by
an ineligible livestock producer.
Ineligible livestock producer is a livestock owner that slaughters,
processes, and packs livestock meat into meat and meat products; and,
as determined by the Deputy Administrator, is also a livestock owner
that, for monetary reimbursement or other gain, provides feed and
facilities for livestock owned by another person on a custom feeding
basis; and is also a livestock owner whose livestock operation
headquarters is not located in an eligible county.
Sheep are domesticated, horned, ruminant mammals of the genus Ovis,
bred for their wool, edible flesh, or skin.
II. Appeals
An applicant may request an appeal or review of an adverse decision
made by the Agency in accordance with 7 CFR parts 11 and 780, or its
successor regulation.
III. Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must meet all of the following requirements to be
eligible for the 2002 Livestock Compensation Program:
1. Timely application. The applicant must submit a signed form FSA-
553 completed to the best of the applicant's ability to the Agency, no
earlier than October 1, 2002, and no later than such date as announced
by the Deputy Administrator.
2. Livestock owner or lessee. The applicant must own, be subject to
a contract to purchase, or cash-lease, eligible livestock.
3. Applicant's operation must be physically located in an eligible
county. The applicant's livestock operation headquarters must be
physically located in an eligible county on June 1, 2002.
IV. Gross Revenue Limitation
A person, as defined in 7 CFR part 1400, who has annual gross
revenue in excess of $2.5 million shall not be eligible to receive
assistance under the 2002 Livestock Compensation Program. For the
purpose of this determination, annual gross revenue means:
(a) With respect to a person who receives more than 50 percent of
such person's gross income from farming and ranching, the total gross
revenue received from such operations; and
(b) With respect to a person who receives 50 percent or less of
such person's gross income from farming and ranching, the total gross
revenue from all sources.
V. Payment Limitation
The total amount of benefits that a person, as determined in
accordance with 7 CFR part 1400, shall be entitled to receive under the
2002 Livestock Compensation Program may not exceed $40,000.
VI. Determining the Amount of Assistance
(a) Analysis of need. The $752 million targeted for the 2002
Livestock Compensation Program is the amount of net income losses
related to livestock production in 2001 and 2002 due to drought
conditions. The analysis was conducted by USDA's Economic Research
Service (ERS). The analysis utilized various models and survey data
from several different sources, and followed procedures used to develop
USDA's regular farm income forecasts.
The drought-affected areas were identified from the U.S. Drought
Monitor (a comprehensive monitoring effort of USDA, National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, National Climate Control, and the
National Drought Mitigation Center) that classifies climate regions by
severity of drought conditions.
Impacts were examined for livestock producers in areas delineated
by severity as moderate, severe, extreme and exceptional drought areas.
The ERS analysis considered the effect of drought both on revenue
and on operating costs to obtain the net income effect related to
livestock production in 2001 and 2002.
(b) Revenue losses. Livestock producers in the drought areas lost
$103 million in gross receipts in 2001 and $583 million in 2002.
Several factors help to explain the level of these revenue losses:
(1) The production impacts modeled in the analysis are associated
with heat stress and water availability. In areas with exceptional
drought, animal deaths due to heat and greater potential for disease
contribute to lost production and revenue.
(2) The analysis does not measure the effect on receipts from early
sale of cattle or herd liquidations. The significant decline in
livestock prices since last year are not attributed to
[[Page 63072]]
drought, but do affect the amount of reduction in potential receipts.
(c) Additional Expenses. In many cases, the response to drought
conditions by livestock producers involves changes in production
practices that create additional and often unanticipated costs to their
business. An example would be extra expenses for utilities such as
electricity and for water. Such short-run increases in the cost of
doing business were examined and their effect on total production
expenses ranged from five percent in exceptional drought areas to less
than one percent in moderate drought areas. Across all drought areas,
total additional expenses were estimated to be $51 million in 2001 and
$415 million in 2002.
(d) Net Impacts. The net impact on income was the combination of
revenue losses plus additional costs incurred and deduction of
government assistance that already has been provided in 2002 through
the FSA Noninsured Assistance Program (NAP) and the 2002 Cattle Feed
Program (See Notice of Funds Availability published September 3, 2002
(67 FR 56260).
Payments for NAP in 2002 are expected to total $250 million, and
USDA made $150 million available for the 2002 Cattle Feed Program. The
net impact of the drought for 2001 and 2002 was $154 million and $598
million, respectively, for a total two-year impact of just over $750
million.
(e) Payment Rates. Payment rates were calculated based on standard
feed relationships among the eligible animal types and then indexed
against beef cattle.For a beef cow, the feed requirement used for
previous FSA-administered feed assistance programs, such as the
Livestock Assistance Program at 7 CFR part 1439 and the 2002 Cattle
Feed Program described in the September 3, 2002 Notice of Funds
Availability, is converted to a corn equivalent of 15.7 pounds of corn
per day. Using an Olympic five-year average (average of five years with
the highest and lowest values excluded) of 1995-2000 corn prices, the
national average price for corn is calculated at $2.07 per bushel or
$0.037 per pound. The support feeding rate of 15.7 pounds of corn
multiplied by $0.037 per pound of corn required per day to support a
beef cow is equivalent to $0.58 per day to feed a beef cow. The
subsistence level of $0.58 per day divided into the $18.00 payment for
an eligible beef cow results in an approximate 30-day period that the
2002 Livestock Compensation Program will provide funds to purchase feed
for a beef cow. A feed relationship factor of 2.6 was used for dairy
because dairy cows typically consume 2.6 times the amount of feed
consumed by a beef cow. This factor assumes enough feed for dairy cows
to continue normal and even increasing levels of milk production.
The payment rate in this program is based on a 1.75 feed
relationship factor for dairy. This lower factor was deemed appropriate
because of the significant payments dairy producers will receive
beginning in October, 2002 under the new Milk Income Loss Contract
program. It also remains high enough to ensure continued milk
production by eligible dairy cows.
VII. Applicant Certification of Eligible Livestock
Eligible livestock must be certified by owner or lessee on the FSA-
553. The applicant will report to FSA and provide proof of the number
of eligible livestock that died or were sold after June 1, 2002.
VIII. Payment Eligibility
To be eligible for payment under the 2002 Livestock Compensation
Program, as determined by the Deputy Administrator, the applicant
shall, as of June 1, 2002, be an owner, lessee, or under contract to
purchase eligible livestock, whose livestock headquarters operation is
physically located in an eligible county; who has submitted and
subsequently received FSA County Committee approval on FSA-553, and who
meets all other eligibility requirements.
IX. Payment Amounts
Adult beef cows and bulls, and adult buffalo and beefalo cows and
bulls, as defined in Part I: $18.00 per head.
Adult dairy cows and bulls, as defined in Part I: $31.50 per head.
Beef, dairy, buffalo and beefalo replacement heifers, steers, non-
breeding heifers, and bulls, as defined in Part I: $13.50 per head.
All sheep and goats, as defined in Part I, born prior to June 1,
2002: $4.50 per head.
X. Contract Liability
All producers receiving a share of the LCP payment are jointly and
severally liable for program violations and resulting repayments, if
applicable.
XI. How the 2002 LCP Will Work
Applications were accepted in FSA county offices beginning on
October 1, 2002. On the LCP application, all owners of livestock in
each livestock operation in an eligible county apply for payment on one
application. Each applicant provides FSA with, and certifies to, the
applicant's name and Tax Identification Number number, address, and
number and type of eligible livestock. After FSA County Committee
approval of the LCP application, payments will be issued beginning
October 7, 2002, from the FSA county office to each approved livestock
producer on the application.
XII. Misrepresentation, Scheme or Device
A person shall be ineligible to receive assistance under this part,
and be subject to such other remedies as may be allowed by law, if,
with respect to such program, it is determined by the FSA State or
county committee, or an official of FSA, that such person has:
(a) Adopted any scheme or other device that tends to defeat the
purpose of the program operated under this Notice;
(b) Made any fraudulent representation with respect to this
program; or
(c) Misrepresented any fact affecting a program determination.
XIII. Liens and Claims of Creditors
Any benefit or portion thereof due any person under this program
shall be allowed without regard to questions of title under State law,
and without regard to any claim or lien in favor of any person, except
agencies of the U.S. Government.
XIV. Power of Attorney
In those instances in which, prior to the issuance of this Notice,
a producer has signed a power of attorney on an approved FSA-211 for a
person or entity indicating that such power shall extend to all
programs listed on the form, without limitation, such power will be
considered to extend to this program unless by October 1, 2002, the
person granting the power notified the local FSA office for the control
county that the grantee of the power is not authorized to handle
transactions for this program for the grantor.
XV. Administration
Where circumstances preclude compliance due to circumstances beyond
the applicant's control, the county or State committee may request that
relief be granted by the Deputy Administrator under this Notice. In
such cases, except for statutory deadlines and other statutory
requirements, the Deputy Administrator may, in order to more equitably
accomplish the goals of this Notice, waive or modify deadlines and
other program requirements if the failure to meet such deadlines or
other
[[Page 63073]]
requirements does not adversely affect operation of the program and are
not prohibited by statute.
The Section 32 funds allocated to FSA to provide assistance under
this program will be monitored by careful review of regular and daily
reports of all payments issued under the program. Upon expenditure of
85 percent of the designated allocation, FSA will mandate a daily
review of expenditures to ensure that payments do not exceed the
allocation.
Signed at Washington, DC, on October 7, 2002.
James R Little,
Administrator, Farm Service Agency.
[FR Doc. 02-25841 Filed 10-7-02; 3:59 pm]
BILLING CODE 3410-05-P
