[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 164 (Monday, August 25, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44946-44947]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-22539]
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Notices
Federal Register
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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. 62, No. 164 / Monday, August 25, 1997 /
Notices
[[Page 44946]]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Office of the Secretary
National Commission on Small Farms; Meetings
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of public meetings.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary of Agriculture by Departmental Regulation No.
1043-43 dated July 9, 1997, established the National Commission on
Small Farms (Commission) and further identified the Natural Resources
Conservation Service to provide support to the Commission. The purpose
of the Commission is to gather and analyze information regarding small
farms and ranches and recommend to the Secretary of Agriculture a
national policy and strategy to ensure their continued viability. The
chair of the Commission has decided that the Commission may hold
subcommittee meetings in order to gather public input from different
regions of the country. The Commission is scheduling three subcommittee
meetings during the first week of September.
PLACES, DATES AND TIMES OF MEETINGS: The Commission's first
subcommittee meeting is September 2 at the Marriot, 189 Wolf Road,
Albany, New York from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (Printed in an earlier Federal
Register notice.) The Commission's second subcommittee meeting is
September 4 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 330 Tijeras, Albuquerque, New
Mexico from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Commission's third subcommittee
meeting is September 5 at the Monarch Hotel, 12566 Southeast 93rd
Avenue, Clackamas, Oregon which is in the Portland, Oregon area, from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The meetings are open to the public. We are seeking
testimony from various sources to arrive at conclusions and
recommendations that will ensure the continued viability of small
farms. The Commission requests that testimony and comments include
ideas and recommendations based on the following questions. Concerns or
problems of individual farms that relate to specific USDA programs
should be addressed only in the context of a recommendation for the
Commission to consider.
The questions are:
1. How are current USDA programs helping or hurting the viability
of small farms?
2. What are the needs of small farms in terms of financing,
research, extension, marketing and risk management and other areas?
What recommendations would you make about these needs that could be
part of a long-range strategy to ensure the continued viability of
small farms?
3. Are there innovative non-governmental or state efforts to assist
beginning and smaller independent farms that might be replicated or
supplemented at the Federal level?
4. What changes in USDA policy or practices are needed to make USDA
programs in the areas of credit, research, extension, marketing, risk
management and other areas more effective in enabling small farms to
survive and thrive?
5. What new programs could provide effective and affordable support
for small farmers as commodity programs are phased out?
6. What can be done to assist beginning farmers and farm workers to
become farm owners?
7. What role should the Federal government play to ensure a
diversified, decentralized and competitive farm structure?
8. What do small farms contribute to your community and your state?
9. What other generic issues pertaining to small farms should the
Commission consider?
Interested parties wishing to testify at these subcommittee
meetings must contact the office of the National Commission on Small
Farms by August 28, 1997, in order to be placed on a list of witnesses.
Oral presentations will be limited to 5 minutes. Those wishing to
testify, but unable to notify the Commission office by August 28, will
be able to sign up as a presenter September 2 in Albany, New York,
September 4 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and September 5 in Clackamas,
Oregon. At each meeting location, sign up will begin at 9:30 a.m. and
end at 11 a.m. These presenters will testify on a first come, first
served basis and comments will be limited based on the time available
and the number of presenters. Written statements will be accepted at
the meeting or may be mailed or faxed to the Commission office by
September 12, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Comments and statements should be sent to National
Commission on Small Farms, U.S. Department of Agriculture, PO Box 2890,
Room 5237, South Building, Washington, DC 20013.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Yezak Molen, Director,
National Commission on Small Farms, at the address above or at (202)
690-0648 or (202) 690-0673. The fax number is (202) 720-0596.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of the Commission is to gather
and evaluate background information, studies, and data pertinent to
small farms and ranches, including limited-resource farmers. On the
basis of the review, the Commission shall analyze all relevant issues
and make findings, develop strategies, and make recommendations for
consideration by the Secretary of Agriculture toward a national
strategy on small farms. The national strategy shall include, but not
be limited to: changes in existing policies, programs, regulations,
training, and program delivery and outreach systems; approaches that
assist beginning farmers and involve the private sectors and
government, including assurances that the needs of minorities, women,
and persons with disabilities are addressed; areas where new
partnerships and collaborations are needed; and other approaches that
it would deem advisable or which the Secretary of Agriculture or the
Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service may request the
Commission to consider.
The Secretary of Agriculture has determined that the work of the
Commission is in the public interest and within the duties and
responsibilities of USDA. Establishment of the Commission also
implements a recommendation of the USDA Civil Rights Action Report to
appoint a diverse commission to develop a national policy on small
farms.
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Dated: August 20, 1997.
Pearlie S. Reed,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Administration.
[FR Doc. 97-22539 Filed 8-22-97; 8:45 am]
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