[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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