[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 28 (Monday, February 11, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9629-9631]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-02979]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 28 / Monday, February 11, 2013 /
Proposed Rules
[[Page 9629]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Marketing Service
7 CFR Part 948
[Doc. No. AMS-FV-12-0044; FV12-948-2 PR]
Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Reestablishment of Membership
on the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Area No. 2
AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: This rule invites comments on reestablishing the membership on
the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Area No. 2 (Committee).
The Committee locally administers the marketing order regulating the
handling of Irish potatoes grown in Colorado. This rule would modify
the Committee membership structure by amending the position allocated
to a producer from Conejos County. Beginning with the 2013-2014 term of
office, such designated Committee position would be allocated to an
eligible producer operating in either Conejos or Costilla County. This
action is expected to improve Committee representation for producers
from this sub-region of the production area.
DATES: Comments must be received by April 12, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments
concerning this rule. Comments must be sent to the Docket Clerk,
Marketing Order and Agreement Division, Fruit and Vegetable Program,
AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., STOP 0237, Washington, DC
20250-0237; Fax: (202) 720-8938; or Internet: http://www.regulations.gov. All comments should reference the document number
and the date and page number of this issue of the Federal Register and
will be made available for public inspection in the Office of the
Docket Clerk during regular business hours, or can be viewed at: http://www.regulations.gov. All comments submitted in response to this rule
will be included in the record and will be made available to the
public. Please be advised that the identity of the individuals or
entities submitting the comments will be made public on the Internet at
the address provided above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Barry Broadbent, Marketing Specialist,
or Gary Olson, Regional Director, Northwest Marketing Field Office,
Marketing Order and Agreement Division, Fruit and Vegetable Program,
AMS, USDA; Telephone: (503) 326-2724, Fax: (503) 326-7440, or Email:
[email protected] or [email protected].
Small businesses may request information on complying with this
regulation by contacting Laurel May, Marketing Order and Agreement
Division, Fruit and Vegetable Program, AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence
Avenue SW., STOP 0237, Washington, DC 20250-0237; Telephone: (202) 720-
2491, Fax: (202) 720-8938, or Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This proposal is issued under Marketing
Agreement No. 97 and Marketing Order No. 948, both as amended (7 CFR
part 948), regulating the handling of Irish potatoes grown in Colorado,
hereinafter referred to as the ``order.'' The order is effective under
the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as amended (7 U.S.C.
601-674), hereinafter referred to as the ``Act.''
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is issuing this rule in
conformance with Executive Order 12866.
This proposal has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, Civil
Justice Reform. This rule is not intended to have retroactive effect.
The Act provides that administrative proceedings must be exhausted
before parties may file suit in court. Under Sec. 608c(15)(A) of the
Act, any handler subject to an order may file with USDA a petition
stating that the order, any provision of the order, or any obligation
imposed in connection with the order is not in accordance with law and
request a modification of the order or to be exempted therefrom. A
handler is afforded the opportunity for a hearing on the petition.
After the hearing USDA would rule on the petition. The Act provides
that the district court of the United States in any district in which
the handler is an inhabitant, or has his or her principal place of
business, has jurisdiction to review USDA's ruling on the petition,
provided an action is filed not later than 20 days after the date of
the entry of the ruling.
This proposal invites comments on reestablishing the membership
structure of the Committee. This rule would modify the current
Committee membership structure by amending the position currently
allocated to a producer from Conejos County. Beginning with the 2013-
2014 term of office, such designated Committee position would be
allocated to an eligible producer operating in either Conejos or
Costilla County. This action is expected to improve Committee
representation for producers from this sub-region of the production
area. This change was unanimously recommended by the Committee at a
meeting held on July 19, 2012.
Section 948.4 of the order divides the State of Colorado into three
areas of regulation for marketing order purposes. These areas include:
Area No. 1, commonly known as the Western Slope; Area No. 2, commonly
known as San Luis Valley; and, Area No. 3, which consists of the
remaining producing areas within the State of Colorado not included in
the definition of Area No. 1 or Area No. 2. Currently, the order only
regulates the handling of potatoes produced in Area No. 2 and Area No.
3. Regulation for Area No. 1 has been suspended.
Section 948.50 of the order establishes committees as
administrative agencies for each of the areas set forth under Sec.
948.4. The reestablishment of areas, subdivisions of areas, the
distribution of representation among the subdivision of areas, or among
marketing organizations within the areas is authorized under Sec.
948.53. Such reestablishment is made by the Secretary upon the
recommendation of the affected area committee. In recommending any such
changes, the area committee shall consider, among other things, the
relative production and the geographic locations of producing sections
as they would affect the efficiency of administration of the order.
Section 948.150(a) of the order's administrative rules prescribes
the Area No. 2 Committee membership, as reestablished under previous
[[Page 9630]]
rulemaking actions, with nine producer members and five handler
members. The nine producer positions are designated to represent
various sub-regions of the production area. Currently, Sec.
948.150(a)(3) specifically dedicates one of those producer positions to
a producer from Conejos County.
At its meeting on July 19, 2012, the Committee unanimously
recommended modifying the Committee membership structure by amending
the position allocated to a producer from Conejos County. The Committee
acknowledged that the position has been increasingly hard to fill as
the number of potato producers located in Conejos County eligible to
serve on the Committee has declined. The Committee attributed the
decrease in the number of producers to a number of issues in that area,
including competition from alternative crops and industry
consolidation.
The Committee believes that allocating the position specified in
Sec. 948.150(a)(3) to a producer from either Conejos or Costilla
County, instead of just from Conejos County, would increase the pool of
potential Committee participants from that general sub-region of the
production area. Conejos County and Costilla County adjoin each other
on the southern boundary of the production area and share similar
climates, soils, production resources, and marketing opportunities.
Producers from either of the two counties would be able to adequately
represent this sub-region of the production area on the Committee.
Producers from Costilla County are currently able to serve on the
Committee in the position allocated in Sec. 948.150(a)(5). This
position is designated to a producer from all other counties in the
Area No. 2 production area that do not have specified representation as
provided in Sec. 948.150(a)(1) through (4). This change is expected to
increase the pool of potential participants eligible to serve on the
Committee and to improve representation for producers from both Conejos
and Costilla Counties. This proposed action was unanimously recommended
by the full Committee.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (RFA)(5 U.S.C. 601-612), the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)
has considered the economic impact of this action on small entities.
Accordingly, AMS has prepared this initial regulatory flexibility
analysis.
The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of
business subject to such actions in order that small businesses will
not be unduly or disproportionately burdened. Marketing orders issued
pursuant to the Act, and the rules issued thereunder, are unique in
that they are brought about through group action of essentially small
entities acting on their own behalf.
There are approximately 80 handlers of Colorado Area No. 2 potatoes
subject to regulation under the order and approximately 180 producers
in the regulated production area. Small agricultural service firms are
defined by the Small Business Administration (13 CFR 121.201) as those
having annual receipts of less than $7,000,000, and small agricultural
producers are defined as those having annual receipts of less than
$750,000.
During the 2010-2011 marketing year, the most recent full marketing
year for which statistics are available, 15,583,512 hundredweight of
Colorado Area No. 2 potatoes were inspected under the order and sold
into the fresh market. Based on an estimated average f.o.b. price of
$12.75 per hundredweight, the Committee estimates that 71 Area No. 2
handlers, or about 89 percent, had annual receipts of less than
$7,000,000. In view of the foregoing, the majority of Colorado Area No.
2 potato handlers may be classified as small entities.
In addition, based on information provided by the National
Agricultural Statistics Service, the average producer price for
Colorado fall potatoes for 2010-2011 was $9.37 per hundredweight. The
average annual fresh potato revenue for each of the 180 Colorado Area
No. 2 potato producers is therefore calculated to be approximately
$811,208. Consequently, on average, many of the Area No. 2 Colorado
potato producers may not be classified as small entities.
This rule would reestablish the Area No. 2 Committee membership
structure currently prescribed under Sec. 948.150(a) of the order by
amending the position allocated to a producer from Conejos County
(Sec. 948.150(a)(3)). Beginning with the 2013-2014 term of office,
such designated Committee position would be allocated to an eligible
producer operating in either Conejos or Costilla County. Authority for
this action is contained in Sec. Sec. 948.50 and 948.53.
At the meeting, the Committee discussed the potential impact of
this change on handlers and producers. The proposed change is expected
to improve Committee representation for producers from this general
sub-region of the production area. Further, the proposed modification
is not anticipated to have any financial or regulatory impact on the
area's potato producers or handlers. Lastly, the benefits resulting
from this rule are not expected to be disproportionately greater or
less for small handlers or producers than for larger entities.
The Committee discussed alternatives to this proposed change
including taking no immediate action, reviewing the issue in the
future, and redesignating the Committee position to be an at-large
position that could be filled by producers from across the entire
production area.
The Committee believes that representation on the Committee by
producers from each of the sub-regions of the production area is
important for the efficient administration of the order. The Committee
also feels that the declining trend in the number of producers in
Conejos County is not likely to be self-reversing. As such, the
Committee determined that there would not be any benefit to delaying
corrective action to resolve this Committee representation issue and
readdressing it in the future. In addition, the Committee determined
that changing the position designated to a producer from Conejos County
into an at-large position could jeopardize the representation for
producers from that southern sub-region. As such, the Committee
concluded that both of the above options would not be sufficiently
responsive to the current situation and modifying the membership
structure as recommended is the best course of action to take at this
time.
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, (44 U.S.C.
Chapter 35), the order's information collection requirements have been
previously approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and
assigned OMB No. 0581-0178. No changes in those requirements as a
result of this action are necessary. Should any changes become
necessary, they would be submitted to OMB for approval.
This rule will not impose any additional reporting or recordkeeping
requirements on either small or large potato handlers. As with all
Federal marketing order programs, reports and forms are periodically
reviewed to reduce information requirements and duplication by industry
and public sector agencies.
AMS is committed to complying with the E-government Act, to promote
the use of the Internet and other information technologies to provide
increased opportunities for citizen access to Government information
and services, and for other purposes. In addition, USDA has not
identified any
[[Page 9631]]
relevant Federal rules that duplicate, overlap, or conflict with this
rule.
Further, the Committee's meeting was widely publicized throughout
the Colorado potato industry and all interested persons were invited to
attend the meeting and participate in Committee deliberations. Like all
Committee meetings, the July 19, 2012, meeting was a public meeting and
all entities, both large and small, were able to express their views on
this issue. Finally, interested persons are invited to submit comments
on this proposed rule, including the regulatory and informational
impacts of this action on small businesses.
A small business guide on complying with fruit, vegetable, and
specialty crop marketing agreements and orders may be viewed at:
www.ams.usda.gov/MarketingOrdersSmallBusinessGuide. Any questions about
the compliance guide should be sent to Laurel May at the previously
mentioned address in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
A 60-day comment period is provided to allow interested persons to
respond to this proposal. All written comments timely received will be
considered before a final determination is made on this matter.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 948
Marketing agreements, Potatoes, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 7 CFR part 948 is
proposed to be amended as follows:
PART 948--IRISH POTATOES GROWN IN COLORADO
0
1. The authority citation for 7 CFR part 948 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601-674.
0
2. In Sec. 948.150, paragraph (a)(3) is revised to read as follows:
Sec. 948.150 Reestablishment of committee membership.
* * * * *
(a) * * *
(3) One (1) producer from either Conejos or Costilla County.
* * * * *
Dated: February 5, 2013.
David R. Shipman,
Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2013-02979 Filed 2-8-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P