[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 211 (Friday, October 31, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64741-64743]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-25904]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation

Farm Service Agency

[Docket No. FCIC-14-0006]


Notice of Request for Renewal and Revision of the Currently 
Approved Information Collection

AGENCY: Risk Management Agency and Farm Service Agency, USDA.

ACTION: Renewal and revision of the currently approved information 
collection.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Risk Management Agency (RMA) are 
requesting comments from all interested individuals and organizations 
on a revision of a currently approved paperwork package associated with 
the Acreage and Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative (ACRSI).

DATES: Written comments on this notice will be accepted until close of 
business December 30, 2014.

ADDRESSES: FCIC prefers that comments be submitted electronically 
through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. You may submit comments, 
identified by Docket ID No. FCIC-14-0006, by any of the following 
methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Todd Anderson, United States Department of 
Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, DAFP, PECD, Washington, DC 20250-
0570; or Richard Anderson, Risk Management Agency, United States 
Department of

[[Page 64742]]

Agriculture, P.O. Box 419205, Kansas City, MO 64133-6205.
    All comments received, including those received by mail, will be 
posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any 
personal information provided, and can be accessed by the public. All 
comments must include the agency name and docket number or Regulatory 
Information Number (RIN) for this rule. For detailed instructions on 
submitting comments and additional information, see http://www.regulations.gov. If you are submitting comments electronically 
through the Federal eRulemaking Portal and want to attach a document, 
we ask that it be in a text-based format. If you want to attach a 
document that is a scanned Adobe PDF file, it must be scanned as text 
and not as an image, thus allowing FCIC to search and copy certain 
portions of your submissions. For questions regarding attaching a 
document that is a scanned Adobe PDF file, please contact the RMA Web 
Content Team at (816) 823-4694 or by email at 
[email protected].
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received for any dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the 
complete User Notice and Privacy Notice for Regulations.gov at http://www.regulations.gov/#!privacyNotice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Todd Anderson, United States 
Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, DAFP, PECD, Washington, 
DC 20250-0570, (202) 720-9106; or Richard Anderson, Risk Management 
Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 419205, 
Kansas City, MO 64133-6205, (816) 926-3950.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Acreage and Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative (ACRSI).
    OMB Number: 0563-0084.
    Expiration Date of Approval: March 31, 2015.
    Type of Request: Extension with a revision of a currently approved 
information collection.
    Abstract: FCIC is proposing to renew and revise the currently 
approved information collection, OMB Number 0563-0084. It is currently 
up for renewal and extension for three years. The Farm Service Agency 
(FSA) and Risk Management Agency (RMA) are requesting comments from all 
interested individuals and organizations on the revised and currently 
approved information collection request associated with the Acreage and 
Crop Reporting Streamlining Initiative (ACRSI). ACRSI is an initiative 
in this information collection request to reengineer the procedures, 
processes, and standards to simplify commodity, acreage, and production 
reporting by producers, eliminate or minimize duplication of 
information collection by multiple agencies, and reduce the burden on 
producers, allowing the producers to report this information through 
FSA county office service centers, insurance agents or through 
precision ag technology capabilities. FSA and RMA are implementing a 
single source reporting solution to establish a single data collection 
and reporting capability that supports USDA's programs.
    FSA and RMA are also improving the existing Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) approved information collections for FSA and RMA, 
0560-0004, Report of Acreage, and 0563-0053, Multiple Peril Crop 
Insurance, acreage, and production information is generally collected 
from the respondent during a personal visit to the FSA Service Center 
and again from the respondent during a personal visit to the insurance 
agent. The forms will still be available to accommodate respondents 
with no Internet access and those who wish to continue to personally 
visit the FSA Service Center and insurance agent to report the 
information. When the single source reporting solution is fully 
implemented, respondents will be allowed to report the information 
once.
    The information will also be shared by both FSA and RMA, as well as 
other USDA agencies, such as NRCS and NASS that have the authority and 
need for such information. In each phase of system implementation, some 
or all of the commodity, acreage, and production information in the 
existing approved information collections will be reported through this 
solution. Furthermore, the information collected will be the same as 
the information currently approved. Additionally, the respondent will 
only have to report it one time through a single source thereby 
reducing the respondent's burden of reporting such information and 
eliminating the duplicate reporting that may be currently required. The 
information will then be shared with the other agency without having 
the producer personally visit both offices. The information collected 
will be the same as the information currently approved and will be used 
in the same manner it would be used if reported separately to each 
agency. FSA and RMA anticipate that producers will be able to use their 
precision-ag systems, farm management information systems, or download 
data files to directly report commodity, acreage, and production 
information needed to participate in USDA programs. The information 
being collected will consist of, but not be limited to: Producer name, 
location state, commodity name, commodity type or variety, location 
county, date planted, land location (legal description, FSA farm 
number, FSA track number, FSA field number), intended use, prevented 
planting acres, acres planted but failed, planted acres, and production 
of commodity produced.
    FSA and RMA will implement the ACRSI Initiative in phases until 
fully implemented. The first phase was initiated in the fall of 2011 in 
Dickenson, Marion, McPherson, and Saline Counties in Kansas, and only 
for the collection of information from producers regarding winter 
wheat. The second phase will be implemented in the spring of 2015 in 
selected counties in Illinois and Iowa for selected commodities. To 
ensure statutory criteria are met for both Federal crop insurance 
programs, FSA, and Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) programs, the 
collection of commodity, acreage, and production information is 
necessary.
    The existing approved information collections will be updated, 
modified or eliminated, as applicable, to reflect the reduction in 
burden on the respondents when the solution is fully implemented.
    Respondents: Producers.
    Estimated Annual Number of Respondents Utilizing the Web-Based 
Single Source Reporting System: 204,250.
    Estimated Annual Number of Respondents Reporting the Information by 
Personally Visiting One Agency and Sharing Information Between 
Agencies: 62,005.
    Estimated Annual Number of Responses per Respondent: 1.5.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents Utilizing the Web-
Based Single Source Reporting System: 230,287 hours. (This estimated 
public reporting burden is from the existing OMB approved information 
collections 0560-0004.)
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents Reporting the 
Information by Personally Visiting One Agency and Having That 
Information Sharing Information Between Agencies: 131,761 hours. (This 
estimated public reporting burden is from the existing OMB approved 
information collections 0560-0004, including the estimated burden for 
travel time.)

[[Page 64743]]

    We are requesting comments on all aspects of this information 
collection to help us to:
    (1) Evaluate whether the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agencies, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    (2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden 
including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
    (3) Enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to 
be collected;
    (4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond through use of appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms 
to technology.
    All comments in response to this notice, including names and 
addresses when provided, will be a matter of public record. Comments 
will be summarized and included in the request for Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) approval.

    Signed on October 27, 2014.
Michael T. Scuse,
Under Secretary, Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services.
[FR Doc. 2014-25904 Filed 10-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-08-P