[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 24, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8174-8175]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-01506]


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

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Office of the Secretary


Visioning of United States, (U.S.) Agricultural Systems for 
Sustainable Production Stakeholder Listening Session Meeting

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Scientist of the United States Department 
of Agriculture, OCS, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of a meeting.

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

SUMMARY: The OCS, USDA announces a Visioning of U.S. Agriculture 
Systems for Sustainable Production Listening Session for those 
interested in the long-term health and viability of U.S. Agriculture 
and for concurrently improving the economic, environmental, security, 
and health benefits to the U.S. through agriculture over the next 50 
years.

DATES: Listening session: The listening session will be on Thursday, 
March 2, 2017 will begin at 8:30 a.m. and is scheduled to end by 5:00 
p.m.
    Registration: You must register by February 27, 2017, to attend in 
person and to provide oral comments during the listening session. The 
number of attendees and oral commenters is limited due to time and 
space constraints (see below) on a first come, first served basis. All 
interested, regardless of attending, are welcome to submit written 
comments.
    Comments: Written comments are due by March 9, 2017. Written 
comments must be submitted electronically to the Contact Person 
identified in this notice.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will take place at the Jamie L. Whitten 
Building, 12th Street and Jefferson Drive SW., Washington, DC 20250. 
All participants are required to enter through the Jefferson Drive 
entrance to the building. This is the entrance facing the National 
mall.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Seth Murray, Senior Advisor, Office of 
the Chief Scientist; telephone: (202) 692-0204; fax: (202) 260-8786; or 
email: [email protected] .

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The OCS was established in 2011 [FR Doc. 
2011-4128] within the Research, Education and Economics (REE) mission 
area of USDA, to identify the authorities of the Under Secretary for 
REE (Chief Scientist of the Department) and the Director of the OCS 
with respect to scientific integrity within USDA and the coordination 
of agricultural research, education, and extension programs and 
activities. The Chief Scientist provides leadership and coordination 
for four agencies of the mission area--the Agricultural Research 
Service; Economic Research Service; National Institute of Food and 
Agriculture; and the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
    Agricultural Systems include row crops, horticultural crops, 
rangeland, livestock, aquaculture, forest, urban agriculture, and 
alternative agricultural production systems for food, fiber and fuel in 
addition to the water, landscape and ecosystem services they depend on 
and affect.
    New technologies and scientific discoveries are creating 
possibilities for novel agricultural systems that could better meet 
holistic societal needs beyond existing systems. Researching, designing 
and implementing these systems requires coordination across extremely 
diverse stakeholders, recognition of regional differences, and a longer 
timeline than incremental improvements to existing systems. The 
listening session will elicit stakeholder input from industry and state 
representatives, federal representatives from within USDA and other 
agencies, national organizations and institutions, local producers, and 
other groups interested in issues facilitating opportunities in the 
long-term for sustainable agricultural production. Short term (less 
than seven years) and incremental solutions are outside the scope of 
this particular listening session.
    On Thursday, March 2, 2017 the listening session will be held from 
8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. in room 107A of the Jamie L. Whitten building. A 
consultant may be assisting with coordinating and facilitating the 
session. The morning session will include brief introductions to 
relevant USDA agencies, other Federal agencies and invited subject 
matter experts, relevant to long-term support and visioning of 
agricultural systems. After this, approximately 10 minute presentations 
will be given by stakeholders that discuss strengths, weaknesses, 
opportunities and/or threats of future agricultural production systems. 
Following lunch, stakeholder presentations will continue. In the 
afternoon, a summary and discussion session will take place in which 
participants will be asked to discuss their reactions to the 
information presented earlier in the day as well as respond to a set of 
questions presented by the organizers aimed at getting feedback for the 
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in current and future 
agricultural systems towards sustainable production. An updated 
schedule will be available online at least one month before the session 
from https://www.usda.gov/ocs, or by emailing 
[email protected].
    All stakeholders are welcome to apply for a 10-minute presentation 
slot, however, due to time constraints, a

[[Page 8175]]

limited number will be selected. Selections will be made to maintain a 
diversity of topics (e.g. animal, aquaculture, grain, fruit, landscape, 
plant, soil, etc.) and geographies but on a first come, first served 
basis. To apply for a slot, please email the Contact Person, Dr. Seth 
Murray, listed above with a one to two sentence topic description. All 
presentations may be oral and/or in PowerPoint, however, a written 
transcript of the talk should be submitted no later than one week after 
the event.
    All parties interested in attending this event must RSVP no later 
than February 27, 2017 to the Contact Person, Dr. Seth Murray, listed 
previously. Due to size constraints in the meeting room, only the first 
70 responders will be accepted.
    Written comments by attendees or other interested stakeholders will 
be welcomed before and up to one week following the listening session 
(March 9, 2017). All statements will become a part of the official 
record of the OCS and will be kept on file in that office.

    Done at Washington, DC, this 17th day of January 2017.
Ann Bartuska,
Acting Under Secretary, Research, Education, and Economics.
[FR Doc. 2017-01506 Filed 1-23-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-03-P