[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 222 (Thursday, November 17, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71310-71311]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-29743]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

National Agricultural Statistics Service


Notice of Intent To Reduce the Frequency of Chemical Use Surveys 
and All Associated Reports

AGENCY: National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of reduction in data collection and publication.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the intention of the National 
Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to reduce the currently approved 
information collections for chemical use surveys approved under OMB 
 0535-0218. The chemical use surveys included in this docket 
are: Agricultural Resource Management Survey Phase II (ARMS II), 
Vegetable Chemical Use Survey, Fruit Chemical Use Survey, and Post 
Harvest Chemical Use Survey. The Post Harvest survey was suspended 
under a previous notice.
    The ARMS II Chemical Use Survey is normally conducted every year 
and it consists of two versions; Production Practices and Costs Report 
(PPCR), and the Production Practices Report (PPR). The PPR component is 
conducted with NASS-only funding to gather field crop chemical use 
data. The PPCR is co-funded by a cooperative agreement with the USDA 
Economic Research Service (ERS). The PPCR component efficiently 
collects costs associated with the various production practices to 
complete the cost of production estimates for ARMS targeted crop 
commodities. The ARMS Phase II-PPCR efficiently collects detailed 
cropping practice and cost data by focusing on field-level and 
expanding to whole farm, thus greatly reducing respondent burden while 
maintaining accuracy of reported data.
    For the 2011 crop year, NASS is making no changes to the Fruit 
Chemical Use survey and Field Crops Chemical Use survey. Barley and 
sorghum are the targeted crops for Field Crops Chemical Use survey. 
Please note that wheat and soybeans were originally in the 2011 crop 
year but were moved to 2012 crop year due to current budget cuts.

Background Information

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            Crop year                    NASS commodity                      ERS commodity  (PPCR)
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2011.............................  Fruit....................  Barley, Sorghum.
2012.............................  Wheat (PPR) and Soybeans.  Soybeans.
2013.............................  Vegetable................  Rice and Peanuts.
2014.............................  Cotton...................  Cotton.
2015.............................  Corn and Potatoes (PPR)..  To be determined (Corn and Dairy).
2016.............................  Fruit....................  To be determined (Wheat).
2017.............................  Wheat (PPR) and Soybeans.  To be determined (Soybeans).
2018.............................  Corn and Potatoes........  To be determined.
2019.............................  Vegetable................  To be determined.
2020.............................  Cotton...................  To be determined.
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    The crop rotations were determined using the current long range 
data collection plan. Each of the field crops will be collected three 
times during the 10 year plan except cotton which will be collected 
only twice. With the current plan, each commodity would be collected 
five times. With the proposed crop rotation, fruit and vegetables 
chemical use would each be collected twice in the 10 year plan while 
currently the data would be collected five times each.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph T. Reilly, Associate 
Administrator, National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, (202) 720-4333, or through the NASS OMB 
Clearance Officer at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Reduction in the Frequency of the 
Chemical Use Surveys Currently Approved.
    OMB Control Numbers: 0535-0218.
    Expiration Dates of Approval: December 31, 2011.
    Type of Request: To reduce the frequency of some of the chemical 
use surveys currently approved, along with the resulting publications.
    Abstract: The primary functions of the National Agricultural 
Statistics Service include the collection of data and the preparation 
and issuance of state and national estimates of crop and livestock 
production, disposition, prices, and environmental and economic 
factors.

[[Page 71311]]

    Timeline: NASS will suspend this information collection as of 
November 17, 2011 due to budget constraints. NASS will not issue any 
publications that would normally be generated from any of the suspended 
chemical use surveys, unless there is a change in the anticipated 
budget shortfall.
    Authority: These data were collected under authority of 7 U.S.C. 
2204(a) (General Duties of the Secretary of Agriculture). Individually 
identifiable data collected under this authority are governed by 
Section 1770 of the Food Security Act of 1985, 7 U.S.C. 2276, which 
requires USDA to afford strict confidentiality to non-aggregated data 
provided by respondents.
    Estimate of Burden: There will be no further public reporting 
burden for this collection of information.

    Signed at Washington, DC, October 25, 2011.
Joseph T. Reilly,
Associate Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2011-29743 Filed 11-16-11; 8:45 am]
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