[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 20, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3095-3097]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-00984]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Farm Service Agency

Commodity Credit Corporation


Information Collection Request; Noninsured Crop Disaster 
Assistance Program and Report of Acreage

AGENCY: Farm Service Agency, Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting comments from all interested 
individuals and organizations on a revision of a currently approved 
information collection in support of the Noninsured Crop Disaster 
Assistance Program (NAP). The revision adds the report of acreage for 
NAP in the information collection request. The report of acreage is not 
a new requirement for NAP; it was previously covered in a separate 
information collection request and FSA is merging it into the NAP 
information collection request. The information being collected is 
needed from producers to determine their eligibility for NAP 
assistance.

DATES: We will consider comments that we receive by March 21, 2016.

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit comments on this notice. In your 
comments, include date, OMB control number, volume, and page number of 
this issue of the Federal Register. You may submit comments by any of 
the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Daniel McGlynn, Acting Division Director, 
Production, Emergencies, and Compliance Division, Farm Service Agency, 
USDA, Mail Stop 0517, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 
20250-0517.
    You may also send comments to the Desk Officer for Agriculture, 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget, Washington, DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeannette Sutphin, (202) 720-3188. 
Persons with disabilities or who require alternative means for 
communication should contact the USDA Target Center at (202) 720-2600 
(voice).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Description of Information Collection

    Title: Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program.
    OMB Control Number: 0560-0175.
    Type of Request: Revision.

[[Page 3096]]

    Abstract: NAP is authorized under 7 U.S.C. 7333 and implemented 
under regulations in 7 CFR part 1437. NAP is administered by FSA for 
the Commodity Credit Corporation. The information collected allows FSA 
to provide assistance through NAP for losses of commercial crops or 
other agricultural commodities (except livestock) that are produced for 
food, fiber, bioenergy conversion, and for which catastrophic coverage 
under section 508(b), or additional NAP coverage of sections 508(c) of 
508(h) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1508) is not 
available.
    NAP coverage is available for crops expressly grown for food 
(excluding livestock and their by-products); crops planted and grown 
for livestock consumption; crops grown for fiber (excluding trees grown 
for lumber or paper products); aquaculture species crops (including 
ornamental fish); floriculture; ornamental nursery; Christmas tree 
crops; turf grass sod; industrial crops; seed crops; and sea grass and 
sea oats. The information is necessary to determine whether a producer 
and crop or commodity meet applicable conditions for assistance and to 
determine compliance with existing regulations.
    Eligible producers must annually:
    (1) Request NAP coverage by completing an application for coverage 
and paying a service fee by the FSA-established application closing 
date;
    (2) File a report of acreage, inventory, or physical location of 
the operation, as applicable for the covered crop or commodity; and
    (3) Certify harvested production of each covered crop or commodity.
    When damage occurs to a covered crop or commodity, which is 
eligible for NAP, producers must file a notice of loss with the local 
FSA administrative county office within 15 calendar days of occurrence 
or 15 calendar days of the date damage to the crop or commodity becomes 
apparent. Producers must also file an application for payment by the 
FSA established deadline, and complete a certification of average 
adjusted gross income and consent for disclosure of tax information 
with the local FSA county office. The NAP application is also being 
used to provide a timelier, more accurate, and more reliable delivery 
of benefits to producers. Changes implemented by the Agricultural Act 
of 2014 (known as the 2014 Farm Bill) have authorized the availability 
of additional NAP coverage levels ranging from 50 to 65 percent of 
production at 100 percent of the average market price (NAP buy-up 
coverage), and expanded NAP coverage to sweet sorghum, biomass sorghum, 
and industrial crops grown as feedstock for renewable biofuel, 
renewable electricity, and biobased products. The 2014 Farm Bill also 
expanded a waiver of the NAP service fee, which was previously 
available only to limited resource farmers to also include beginning 
and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.
    As specified in 7 CFR 1437.7, producers that elect buy-up coverage 
are required to pay a premium, in addition to the service fee, equal to 
the lesser of:
    The product obtained by multiplying:
     A 5.25-percent premium fee; and
     The applicable payment limit.
    The sum of the premiums for each eligible crop, with the premium 
for each eligible crop obtained by multiplying:
     The producer's share of the eligible crop;
     The number of acres devoted to the eligible crop;
     The approved yield;
     The coverage level elected by the producer;
     The average market price; and
     A 5.25-percent premium fee; or
     For value loss crops, the premium calculation will be 
based on the maximum dollar value for which coverage is sought, subject 
to applicable payment limitation, times the 5.25 percent premium.
    Premiums will be calculated separately for each crop, type, and 
intended use as reported on the acreage report and as specified in the 
basic provisions.
    Beginning farmers and ranchers, limited resource farmers and 
ranchers, and socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers may request a 
waiver of the service fee and a 50 percent premium reduction for any 
buy-up coverage elected by filing a certification of their status on or 
before the time the application for coverage is filed using the form 
specified by FSA.
    Annual reports of acreage that are planted and prevented from being 
planted must be reported, as required by the Secretary, by the 
designated acreage reporting date for the crop and location as 
established by the Secretary. As specified in 7 CFR 1437.8(d), the 
report of acreage planted or intended but prevented from being planted 
must be provided to FSA at the administrative county office for the 
acreage no later than the date specified by FSA for each crop and 
location. Reports of acreage filed beyond the date specified by FSA for 
the crop and location may, however, be processed and used for 
determining acres devoted to the eligible crop if all the provisions of 
7 CFR part 718 are met. In the case of a crop-share arrangement, all 
producers will be bound by the acreage report filed by the landowner or 
operator unless the producer files a separate acreage report by the 
date specified by FSA for the crop and location. Reports of acreage 
planted or intended and prevented from being planted must include all 
of the following information:
    (1) Number of acres of the eligible crop in the administrative 
county (for each planting in the event of multiple planting) in which 
the producer has a share;
    (2) Zero acres planted when the producer's crop for which an 
application for coverage was filed, is not planted;
    (3) The producer's share of the eligible crop at the time an 
application for coverage was filed;
    (4) The FSA farm serial number;
    (5) The identity of the crop, practices, intended uses, and for 
forage crops, the predominant species or type and variety of the 
vegetation;
    (6) For crops grown on organic acreage with an average market price 
established specified in Sec.  1437.12(b), the identity of the crop 
planted on:
    (i) Acreage using conventional farming practices;
    (ii) Certified organic acreage;
    (iii) Transitional acreage being converted to certified organic 
acreage;
    (iv) Buffer zone acreage;
    (7) The identity of all producers sharing in the crop;
    (8) The date the crop was planted or planting was completed, 
including the age of the perennial crops; and
    (9) The acreage intended but prevented from being planted.
    Additionally, 7 CFR 1437.301(c) indicates that for those eligible 
crops and commodities for which it is impractical, as determined by 
CCC, to report crop acreage including, but not limited to, ornamental 
nursery and aquaculture, producers must provide a report of the crop, 
commodity, and facility to FSA for the acreage or facility, on a form 
prescribed by FSA, no later than the beginning of the crop year.
    The report of acreage is not a new requirement for NAP; it was 
previously approved by OMB under control number 0560-0004. The report 
of acreage was covered in that separate information collection request 
and FSA is merging it into the NAP information collection request. The 
report of acreage information collection has been approved under a 
separate OMB control number because the report of acreage is also used 
for other programs and in the past, the other programs required 
approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act; however, due to

[[Page 3097]]

legislative exemptions related to the Paperwork Reduction Act for those 
other FSA programs, currently NAP is the only FSA program for which the 
report of acreage requires approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. 
Therefore, FSA determined that instead of continuing 2 separate 
approvals, it would be better to consolidate the information collection 
requests into a single NAP approval. When FSA submits the information 
collection request to OMB, FSA will submit a consolidated request to 
revise the OMB approval for control number 0560-0175 and will 
discontinue OMB control number 0560-0004 when OMB approves the revised 
information collection request for control number 0560-0175.
    FSA is revising the currently approved information collection 
because the total annual burden hours is expected to increase due to 
the merging the information collection request of Report of Acreage for 
NAP (0560-0004) with the information collection request of 0560-0175. 
FSA is also revising the estimates currently approved for OMB control 
number 0560-0175 to the numbers to reflect current respondents. The 
information collection request approved under OMB control number 0560-
0004 will be discontinued upon the OMB approval of the revised 
information collection request for OMB control number 0560-0175.
    The formula used to calculate the total burden hours is ``the 
estimated average time per response (including travel time)'' times 
``the total estimated annual response.''
    Type of Respondents: Producers of commercial crops or other 
agricultural commodities (except livestock).
    Estimated Annual Burden: Public reporting burden for this 
information collection is estimated to average 1.63 hours per response. 
The average travel time, which is included in the total annual burden, 
is estimated to be 1 hour per respondent.
    Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 72,294.
    Estimated Annual Number of Reponses per Respondent: 8.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 574,402.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 933,528.
    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 FSA, including whether the 
information will have practical utility;
    (2) Evaluate the accuracy of FSA'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, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    All comments received 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 submission for Office 
of Management and Budget approval.

Val Dolcini,
Executive Vice President, Commodity Credit Corporation, and 
Administrator, Farm Service Agency.
[FR Doc. 2016-00984 Filed 1-19-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-05-P