[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 180 (Friday, September 16, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63736-63738]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-22244]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Economic Research Service


Notice of Intent To Request New Information Collection

AGENCY: Economic Research Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) implementing regulations, the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (ERS) invites 
the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity 
to comment on a proposed new information collection for a study of 
``Risk Preferences and Demand for Crop Insurance and Cover Crop 
Programs.''

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received on or before 
November 15, 2016 to be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this notice to Stephanie 
Rosch, Market and Trade Economics Division, Economic Research Service,

[[Page 63737]]

U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave. SW., Mail Stop 
1800, Washington, DC 20250-0002. Submit electronic comments to 
[email protected].
    All written comments will be open for public inspection at the 
office of the Economic Research Service during regular business hours 
(8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday) at 355 E St. SW., Room 
5-149B, Washington, DC 20024-3221.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments and 
replies will be a matter of public record. Comments are invited on: (a) 
Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether 
the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on those who are to respond, including use of 
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact 
Stephanie Rosch at the mailing address in the preamble. Tel. 202-694-
5049.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Risk Preferences and Demand for Crop Insurance and Cover 
Crop Programs.
    OMB Number: To be assigned by OMB.
    Expiration Date: Three years from approval date.
    Type of Request: New information collection.
    Abstract: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(Pub. L. 104-12) and OMB regulations at 5 CFR part 1320 (60 FR 44978, 
August 29, 1995), this notice announces USDA Economic Research 
Services' intention to request approval from the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for a new data collection effort. This data collection 
will use an experiment with university students to (1) characterize the 
relationship between cover crop usage and crop insurance purchases, and 
(2) explore how this relationship depends on individuals' risk 
preferences and demographic characteristics. Outputs from the proposed 
experiment will be used to inform future risk management experiments 
with farmer participants.
    Commodity support programs, including crop insurance, and programs 
to promote use of cover crops all significantly alter the farm revenue 
risk profile for the farmers who adopt them. Whether farmers will 
choose to adopt insurance and/or soil conversation programs depends on 
the individual risks faced by each farmer, which can vary across 
different regions, crops, and time periods, as well as how farmers 
assess the costs of the risks that they face. ERS currently models the 
demand for commodity support programs, federal crop insurance, and 
cover crop promotion programs as part of multiple research objectives. 
These economic models rely on traditional theories of farmer decision-
making under risk, and over-predict participation rates for all crop 
insurance and cover crop programs.
    The information to be collected in this proposed initiative is 
necessary to test alternate theories of decision-making under risk. 
This research is difficult to conduct without experiments and relying 
only on observational or administrative data due to the variety of U.S. 
farms and production practices, the variety and complexity of real-
world programs, and the limited variation in premium subsidies across 
the U.S. farming population. By using experiments, we will be able 
identify alternate theories of decision-making under risk that provide 
more accurate predictions of crop insurance enrollments for student 
subjects. We plan to use these experiments to develop future follow-on 
experiments with farmer subjects--the results of which will be used to 
update existing ERS models to provide better estimates of the impact of 
subsidies on key subpopulations such as producers with marginal lands 
and producers of high value crops.
    This experiment will be conducted with student subjects from the 
University of Rhode Island. Participation will be voluntary, and 
subjects will be recruited using email communications and classroom 
solicitations. During each session, subjects will perform three simple 
tasks involving risky decisions and complete a brief demographic 
questionnaire. Sessions will be conducted at the Department of 
Environmental and Natural Resource Economics' Policy Simulation 
Laboratory (SimLab) at the University of Rhode Island. All experimental 
tasks will conducted using SimLab computers and custom-designed 
software.
    Each session will last for a maximum of 90 minutes. Subjects will 
receive a show-up fee of $10 as is consistent with standard practice at 
SimLab. They will receive this payment even if they decline to 
participate in the experiment. In addition to the show-up fee, subjects 
will receive compensation based on the decisions they make during the 
course of the experiment. We expect to pay subjects, on average, 
between $20-25 per person, including the show-up fee. In designing our 
experimental procedures and payment levels, we took into consideration 
academic standards, statistical power considerations, budgetary 
limitations, and discussions between OMB and ERS regarding this and 
other approved experimental research.

    Authority: These data will be collected under the legal 
authority of 7 U.S.C. 2204(a).

    ERS intends to protect respondent information under the Privacy Act 
of 1974 and 7 U.S.C. 2276. ERS has decided not to invoke the 
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 
2002 (CIPSEA). The complexity and cost necessary to invoke CIPSEA is 
not justified given the nature of the collection; the collection will 
be conducted by the University of Rhode Island and hosted in non-
government owned computer systems, where CIPSEA compliance cannot be 
assured.
    Affected Public: All respondents will be students at the University 
of Rhode Island.
    Estimated Number of Respondents and Respondent Burden: Public 
reporting burden for this information collection of information is 
estimated to be 861 hours. We anticipate 750 burden hours will be 
needed to complete the experiment (500 subjects total, 1.5 hours per 
subject) and 111 burden hours for subject recruitment (2000 potential 
subjects, 2-5 minutes per potential subject).
    Copies of this information collection can be obtained from 
Stephanie Rosch at the address in the preamble.
    Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed 
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 Agency's estimate of 
the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance 
the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; 
(d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of

[[Page 63738]]

appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. 
Comments should be sent to the address in the preamble. All responses 
to this notice will be summarized and included in the request for OMB 
approval. All comments will also become a matter of public record.

    Date: September 6, 2016.
Mary Bohman,
Administrator, Economic Research Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-22244 Filed 9-15-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-18-P