[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 78 (Tuesday, April 23, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16836-16837]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-08091]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

April 17, 2019.
    The Department of Agriculture will submit the following information 
collection requirement(s) to OMB for review and clearance under the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 on or after the date 
of publication of this notice. Comments are requested regarding: (1) 
Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 
information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of burden including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and 
clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to 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 should be addressed to: Desk 
Officer for Agriculture, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), New Executive Office Building, 
Washington, DC; New Executive Office Building, 725 17th Street NW, 
Washington, DC, 20503. Commenters are encouraged to submit their 
comments to OMB via email to: [email protected] or fax (202) 
395-5806 and to Departmental Clearance Office, USDA, OCIO, Mail Stop 
7602, Washington, DC 20250-7602.
    Comments regarding these information collections are best assured 
of having their full effect if received by May 23, 2019. Copies of the 
submission(s) may be obtained by calling (202) 720-8681.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information 
unless the collection of information displays a currently valid OMB 
control number and the agency informs potential persons who are to 
respond to the collection of information that such persons are not 
required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays 
a currently valid OMB control number.

National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)

    Title: List Sampling Frame Survey--Substantive Change.
    OMB Control Number: 0535-0140.
    Summary of Collection: General authority for these data collection 
activities is granted under U.S. Code Title 7, Section 2204 which 
specifies that ``The Secretary of Agriculture shall procure and 
preserve all information concerning agriculture which he can obtain . . 
. . by the collection of statistics . . .''. The primary objective of 
the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is to provide data 
users with timely and reliable agricultural production and economic 
statistics, as well as environmental and specialty agricultural related 
statistics. To accomplish this objective, NASS relies heavily on the 
use of sample surveys statistically drawn from the ``List Sampling 
Frame.'' The List Sampling Frame is a database of names and addresses, 
with control data, that contains the components values from which these 
samples can be drawn.
    Most of the surveys that NASS conducts are based on multiple frame 
samples. This multi-frame concept currently involves a List Frame, 
which consists of names of all known farm operators, and an Area Frame, 
which consists of all land in the United States. The Area Frame is used 
to measure incompleteness in the List Frame.
    Currently, NASS is approved to use web-scraping to identify 
potential farm operators who are not currently on the NASS List Frame. 
The substantive change that NASS is proposing, involves adding an 
additional questionnaire to the currently approved docket. This is 
being done through the June Area Research Project (JARP) pilot study. 
The new questionnaire that is being added, will be the second phase of 
the JARP study. This two-phased pilot study is designed to assess the 
viability of replacing or reducing the NASS Area Frame with a web-
scraped List Frame for the June Area Survey (JAS). JARP's second phase

[[Page 16837]]

questionnaire will be administered via telephone, web and mail, thereby 
reducing or possibly eliminating the expensive in-person enumeration 
costs which are needed for the current Area Frame-based JAS.
    The JARP study will be conducted in four states (Kansas, Nebraska, 
New York and Pennsylvania) in the summer of 2019. A parallel design 
study, also called a parallel group study, will be conducted. The 
``control'' group will be the 2019 JAS sample, which will be drawn and 
analyzed using current production processes. The ``treatment'' group 
will be the sample collected within this pilot study. Data collected 
for JARP will be used to evaluate the efficacy of eliminating or 
reducing the need for NASS's Area Frame-based surveys.
    This substantive change will add an additional 8,000 respondents 
and 1,697 hours of respondent burden to the currently approved totals.
    Need and Use of the Information: The List Sampling Frame Surveys 
are used to develop and maintain a complete list of possible farm 
operations. Data from criteria surveys are used to provide control data 
for new records on the list sampling frame. This information is 
utilized to define the size of operation, define sample populations and 
establish eligibility for the Census of Agriculture. New names and 
addresses of potential farms are obtained on a regular basis from 
growers association, other government agencies and various outside 
sources. The goal is to produce for each State a relatively complete, 
current, and unduplicated list of names for statistical sampling for 
agricultural operation surveys and the Census of Agriculture. This 
information is used to develop efficient sample designs, which allows 
NASS the ability to draw reduced sample sizes from the originally large 
universe populations.
    Description of Respondents: Farms.
    Number of Respondents: 8,000.
    Frequency of Responses: Reporting: On occasion.
    Total Burden Hours: 1,697.

Kimble Brown,
Departmental Information Collection Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2019-08091 Filed 4-22-19; 8:45 am]
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