2014-02093. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

January 28, 2014.

The Department of Agriculture has submitted the following information collection requirement(s) to OMB for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. Comments regarding (a) 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; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) 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.

Comments regarding this information collection received by March 5, 2014 will be considered. Written comments should be addressed to: Desk Officer for Agriculture, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), New Executive Office Building, 725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20502. 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. 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.

Farm Service Agency

Title: 7 CFR 761, General Program Administration.

OMB Control Number: 0560-0238.

Summary of Collection: Authority to establish the regulatory requirements contained in 7 CFR 761 and 7 CFR 763, is derived from 5 U.S.C. 301 which provides that “The Head of an Executive department or military department may prescribe regulations for the government of his department, the distribution and performance of its business . . .” The Secretary delegated authority to administer the provisions of the Act applicable to the Farm Loan Program (FLP) to the Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Service in section 2.16 of 7 CFR part 2. FLP provides loans to family farmers to purchase real estate equipment and finance agricultural production. The regulations covered by this information collection package describes, the policies and procedures the agency uses to provide supervised credit to direct FLP applicants and borrowers in accordance with the provisions of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (Pub. L. 87-128), as amended.

Need and Use of the Information: Information collections are submitted by FLP direct applicants and borrowers to the local FSA office serving the county in which their business is headquartered. The information is necessary to provide supervised credit as legislatively mandated and is used by Agency Officials to: (1) Ensure that when loan funds or insurance proceeds are used for construction and development, projects, work is completed according to applicable state and local requirements, and in a manner that protects the Agency's financial interest. (2) Ensure that the loan repayment plan is developed using realistic data, based on the actual history of the operation and any planned improvements. (3) Identify potential concerns limiting the success of the operation and develop a loan assessment outlining the course of action to be followed, to improve the operation so that commercial credit is available. The agency is mandated to provide supervised credit; therefore, failure to collect the information, or collecting it less frequently, could result in the failure of the farm operation or loss of agency security property.

Description of Respondents: Business or other for-profit; Farms.

Number of Respondents: 91,830.

Frequency of Responses: Reporting: On occasion; Annually.

Total Burden Hours: 248,881.

Ruth Brown,

Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer.