[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 150 (Wednesday, August 5, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 41711-41713]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-20896]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Commodity Credit Corporation
7 CFR Part 1446
RIN: 0560-AF56
Cleaning and Reinspection of Farmers Stock Peanuts
AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA.
ACTION: Interim rule with request for comments.
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SUMMARY: This rule amends regulations for the peanut price support
program to, pending comment, ease conditions for marketing Segregation
3 peanuts by allowing the peanuts to be reconditioned and regraded in
certain limited instances. Peanuts are graded as ``Segregation 3''
peanuts when they are found by visual inspection to have Aspergillus
flavus (A. flavus) mold. This rule would allow a farmer whose peanuts
were found at a buying point inspection to have the mold to reclean
those peanuts at the buying point and have them visually reinspected
within 24 hours. The farmer could obtain such a re-inspection only once
for any given lot. This rule follows litigation in which all segments
of the industry were involved and buying point inspection procedures
were at issue. This rule is issued as an interim rule to allow relief
with respect to the upcoming crop (the 1998 crop) which should come to
market shortly. However, comments on all inspection options related to
the price support program for peanuts are solicited and should be
offered by all interested parties.
DATES: Effective August 5, 1998. Comments must be received on or before
September 4, 1998 to be assured consideration. Comments regarding
information collection must be received on or before October 5, 1998 to
be assured consideration.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments on the interim rule to: Director, Tobacco
and Peanuts Division, Farm Service Agency, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, STOP 0514, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C.,
20250-0514. All written submissions made pursuant to this rule will be
made available for public inspection in Room 5750 South Building, USDA,
between the hours of 8:15 a.m. and 4:45 p.m., during regular Federal
workdays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Kincannon, (202) 720-7914.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Executive Order 12866
For purposes of Executive Order 12866, this rule has been
determined to be not significant and has not been reviewed by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act is not applicable to this interim
rule because the Commodity Credit Corporation is not required by 5
U.S.C. 553 or any other provision of law to publish a notice of
proposed rulemaking with respect to the subject matter of this rule.
Environmental Evaluation
It has been determined by an environmental evaluation that this
action will have no significant impact on the quality of the human
environment. Therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an
Environmental Impact Statement is needed.
Unfunded Federal Mandates
This rule contains no Federal mandates (under the regulatory
provisions of Title II of the Unfunded Mandate Reform Act of 1995
(UMRA), for State, local, and tribal governments or the private sector.
Thus, this rule is not subject to the requirements of sections 202 and
205 of the UMRA.
Federal Assistance Program
The title and number of the Federal Assistance Program, as found in
the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, to which this interim rule
applies are: Commodity Loans and Purchases--10.051.
Executive Order 12372
This program is not subject to the provisions of Executive Order
12372, which requires intergovernmental consultation with State and
local officials. See the Notice related to 7 CFR
[[Page 41712]]
part 3015, subpart V, published at 48 FR 29115 (June 24, 1983).
Executive Order 12988
This interim rule has been reviewed in accordance with Executive
Order 12988. The provisions of this rule do not preempt State laws to
the extent that such laws are consistent with the provisions of this
rule. Before any legal action is brought regarding determinations made
under provisions of 7 CFR part 1446, the administrative appeal
provisions set forth at 7 CFR parts 11 and 780 must be exhausted.
National Appeals Division Rules of Procedure
The procedures set out in 7 CFR parts 11 and 780 apply to appeals
of adverse decisions made under the regulations adopted in this notice.
Paperwork Reduction Act
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, CCC will
forward a regular submission of this information collection request to
OMB for the approval of increased reporting burden necessary for the
administration of the peanut program.
Title: Peanut Program.
OMB Control Number: 0560-0006.
Type of Request: Reinstatement and Revision of a previously
approved information collection.
Abstract: The peanut price support program is made available
through the authority granted the Secretary of Agriculture under the
Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, and the Agriculture
Act of 1949, as amended. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform
Act of 1996 amended the peanut price support program effective for the
1996 through 2002 crop years.
Under the provisions of the peanut price support program FSA
allocates peanut quota to States based on the peanut quota allocated to
the State in 1995. Each farm eligible for peanut quota allocation
receives a quota based on the increase or decrease in the States quota.
Provisions of the peanut program requires FSA to administer the
transfer of peanut quota between farm, the allocation of temporary seed
quota, the marketing, inspection and grading peanuts of all peanuts,
making warehouse-and farm-stored loans, and the contracting and
disposition of additional peanuts (peanuts grown in excess of a farms
quota allocation).
The public reporting burden imposed by the peanut price support
program requires peanut producers to document the acreage planted to
peanuts, peanut quota transferred to another farm and to an out-of-
county farm, production and disposition of peanuts. Peanut handlers are
required to report the grade factors for peanuts inspected at time of
delivery to buying points, purchase of non-inspected peanuts, peanuts
used for breeder seed or foundation seed, and peanuts used for
experimental purposes.
This information collected allows FSA, in accordance with statutory
provisions, to account for peanut production for each farm, allocate
temporary seed quota to eligible producers, and monitor the disposition
of additional peanuts to assure only quota peanuts are used in the
domestic market. In addition, this information collection allows the
CCC to administer the warehouse-and farm-stored peanut loan program and
to assure that quota peanuts are supported at the mandated price
support rate.
Estimate of Burden: Public reporting burden for this information
collection is estimated to average .68 hours per response .
Respondents: Peanut Producers.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 51,250.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 15.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 306,690 hours.
Proposed topics for comment include: ( a) Whether the continued
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 CCC's estimate of
burden including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
(c) enhancing the quality, utility, and clarity of the information
collected; or (d) minimizing the burden of the collection of the
information on those who are to respond, including the use of
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
Comments should be sent to the Desk Officer for Agriculture, Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget,
Washington, D.C. 20250-0517. All comments will become a matter of
public record.
OMB is required to make a decision concerning the collection of
information contained in these interim regulations between 30 and 60
days after publication of this document in the Federal Register.
Therefore, a comment to OMB is best assured of having its full effect
if OMB receives it within 30 days of publication.
Background
This rule addresses an amendment to the peanut poundage quota
regulations at 7 CFR Part 1446 with regard to determining Segregation 3
peanuts and addresses a matter which has been at issue in recent
litigation under the name of Ray T. Boyd et al. v. Glickman, USDC M.D.
Ala., Southern Div., Civil Action No. 98-A-83 S. In order to provide
some relief with respect to the matter at issue in that proceeding,
this rule modifies the definition of Segregation 3 peanuts found in
Sec. 1446.103 by providing that peanuts found to have visible
Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus) mold upon a visual inspection at a
buying point may be reconditioned and regraded in certain limited
instances. For many years peanuts found to have visible A. flavus mold
were required to be marketed as additional loan peanuts or as quota
peanuts returned to the farm for seed. Although no recleaning was
allowed, the impact of the inspection on farmers was mitigated by the
availability of ``disaster transfers'' which allowed a transfer of
additional loan peanuts to a quota loan pool. Those transfers did not
change the ultimate use of the peanuts but did allow the farmer to
receive a return close to that for quota peanuts if the farmer
otherwise would have unused quota.
The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (1996
Act) substantially limited the quantity and price on such transfers but
did not mandate the particular procedures by which peanuts would be
classified as Segregation 3 peanuts. In order to mitigate possible harm
to individual farmers with Segregation 3 peanuts, farmers whose peanuts
are found to contain visible A. flavus mold would be allowed by this
interim rule, pending comment, to have the peanuts reconditioned by
removing foreign material and loose shelled kernels (LSK's) at the
buying point and regraded one time only in accordance with directions
to be issued by the Director of the Tobacco and Peanuts Division of the
Farm Service Agency.
As defined by 7 CFR part 1446, farmers stock peanuts are picked or
threshed peanuts produced in the United States which have not been
changed (except for removal of foreign material, loose shelled kernels
(LSK's), and excess moisture) from the condition in which picked or
threshed peanuts are customarily marketed by producers, plus any LSK's
that are removed from farmers stock peanuts before such farmers stock
peanuts are marketed. Accordingly, the only permissible reconditioning
of farmers stock peanuts
[[Page 41713]]
is cleaning to remove foreign material and LSK's. Any LSK's removed by
cleaning must be accounted for as will be specified by the Director.
Comments on this interim rule are requested and will be considered
including comments directed at the impact of this rule on other farmers
because of possible losses that could occur on peanuts that are
regraded but after being pledged as collateral for a price support loan
at the higher quota level are not found attractive to buyers of peanuts
for quota peanut uses. It has been determined for the present that the
retesting will not be made using chemical testing because of the cost
involved, and the lack of standards for chemical testing at that stage
of the marketing process. Insofar as questions of wholesomeness are
concerned chemical testing is conducted at a later stage of the
marketing process for the purposes of insuring such wholesomeness. The
inspection addressed in this rule is for purposes of making certain
price support value determinations in the context of operating a
program that supports peanuts throughout the country.
However, comments concerning chemical testing during the inspection
for incoming producer peanuts at buying points will be carefully
considered in determining whether to amend the interim rule prior to
making that rule final. Such comments should address the efficacy of
such testing, standards for such testing and the assignment of costs
for such testing. That is, all interested parties should provide
comments expressing their view on whether the option contained in the
interim rule, or some other option, should be selected. All options
will be considered.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR part 1446
Loan programs--agriculture, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 7 CFR part 1446 is amended
as follows:
PART 1446--PEANUTS
1. The authority citation is amended to read as follows:
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 7271; 15 U.S.C. 714b and 714c
2. In Sec. 1446.103 a new definition of ``Director'' is added in
its proper alphabetical sequence and in the definition of Segregations,
paragraph (3) is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 1446.103 Definitions
* * * * *
Director. The Director, or Acting Director, Tobacco and Peanuts
Division, Farm Service Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
* * * * *
Segregations. * * *
(3) Segregation 3. Segregation 3 peanuts are farmers stock peanuts
which, upon visible inspection, are found to contain Aspergillus flavus
mold: Provided, further, however, that, in accordance with such written
instructions as the Director may issue, the Director shall permit
producers at approved buying points as specified by the Director to
have a Segregation 3 lot reconditioned, one time only, so long as the
reconditioning is performed at the buying point where the peanuts were
initially delivered, and then reinspected visually. Such reinspection
may not occur more than 24 hours from the initial inspection except as
permitted by the Director and the second grade shall be considered the
final grade for the farmers stock peanuts.
* * * * *
Signed at Washington, D.C., on July 30, 1998.
Keith Kelly,
Executive Vice President, Commodity Credit Corporation.
[FR Doc. 98-20896 Filed 7-31-98; 2:59pm]
BILLING CODE 3410-05-P
