[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 189 (Tuesday, September 30, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58727-58728]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-23352]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Solicitation of Input From Stakeholders Regarding Commodity
Boards To Propose Projects and Contribute Funding Under the
Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant Programs,
Implementation
AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of Web-based listening session and request for
stakeholder input.
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SUMMARY: As part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's
(NIFA) strategy to successfully implement Section 7404 of Public Law
113-79, the Agricultural Act of 2014, NIFA is soliciting stakeholder
input on how it will establish procedures, including timelines, under
which an entity established under a commodity promotion law (as such
term is defined under section 7401(a) of the Agricultural Act of 2014)
or a State commodity board (or other equivalent State entity) may
submit proposals for Requests for Applications (RFA)to be competed as
part of the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)
competitive grant programs. If proposals are accepted for funding, the
proposed RFA will be competed as part of the AFRI competitive grants
program RFAs and entities eligible for AFRI awards will be able to
compete for award. In addition, as a condition of funding the grant
proposed by a commodity board, NIFA shall require a contribution of
funds equal to the amount of the grant.
NIFA will be holding Web-based listening sessions in order to
solicit stakeholder input on this new challenge area. The focus of the
Web-based listening sessions will be to gather stakeholder input that
will be used in developing a process for soliciting, evaluating, and
prioritizing AFRI Request for Applications (RFA) submissions from the
previously stated commodity board entities or their equivalent.
All comments must be received by close of business on October 16,
2014, to be considered in the initial planning of the FY 2015 cycle.
DATES: The Web-based listening sessions will be held on Thursday,
October 9, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time
(ET), and Thursday, October 16, 2014, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., ET.
All written comments must be received by 5:00 p.m., ET on Thursday,
October 16, 2014.
ADDRESSES: The Web-based listening sessions will be hosted using Adobe
Connect. On October 9th and October 16th, please access the following
Web site, http://nifa-connect.nifa.usda.gov/cbsls/. In addition, audio
conference call capabilities can be accessed at 1-888-844-9904,
participant code 4896371#.
You may submit comments, identified by NIFA-2014-004, by any of the
following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
Email: [email protected]. Include NIFA-2014-004 in the subject
line of the message.
Fax: 202-690-0289.
Mail: Paper, disk or CD-ROM submissions should be submitted to
Commodity Boards; Office of the Administrator, National Institute of
Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, STOP 2201, 1400
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20250-2201.
Hand Delivery/Courier: Centers of Excellence--Office of the
Administrator, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Room 4248, Waterfront Centre, 800 9th Street
SW., Washington, DC 20024.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and reference to NIFA-2014-004. All comments received will be posted to
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Valeria Best, (202) 720-8540
(phone), (202) 690-1260 (fax), or [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Comment Procedures
Persons wishing to present oral comments during the Web-based
listening session on either Thursday, October 9 or Thursday, October
16, 2014 are requested to pre-register by contacting Ms. Valeria Best
at (202) 720-8540, by fax at (202) 690-1260 or by email to
[email protected]. Participants may reserve one 5-minute comment
period. More time may be available, depending on the number of people
wishing to make a presentation. Reservations will be confirmed on a
[[Page 58728]]
first-come, first-served basis. All other participants may provide
comments during the Web-based listening session if time permits, or
submit written comments. All written comments must be received by close
of business October 16, 2014, to be considered. All comments and the
official transcript of the Web-based listening session, when they
become available, may be reviewed on the NIFA Web page, http://www.nifa.usda.gov, for six months.
Background and Purpose
NIFA is moving forward to implement Section 7404 of the
Agricultural Act of 2014. Beginning in October of 2014, this section
requires that the NIFA ``establish procedures, including timelines,
under which an entity established under a commodity promotion law (as
such term is defined under section 501(a) of the Federal Agriculture
Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7401(a))) or a State
commodity board (or other equivalent State entity) may directly submit
to the Secretary for consideration proposals for requests for
applications'' as part of the AFRI competitive grants program.
These proposals for RFAs must address particular issues related to
the AFRI priority areas. A program synopsis of the AFRI programs,
including program priorities, can be viewed at the following URL:
http://www.nifa.usda.gov/funding/afri/afri_synopsis.html.
Language in 7 U.S.C. 7401(a) defines an entity established under a
commodity promotion law as a program regarding an agricultural
commodity that includes a combination of promotion, research, industry
information, or consumer information activities, is funded by mandatory
assessments on producers or processors, and is designed to maintain or
expand markets and uses for the commodity (as determined by the
Secretary). As of this writing, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service
has informed NIFA that 22 organizations are federally recognized that
meet the definition of this organization: Hass Avocado Board, Mushroom
Council, Beef Board, Paper and Paper-Based Packaging, Blueberry
Council, Peanut Board, Christmas Tree Board, Popcorn Board, Cotton
Board, Pork Board, Dairy Board, Potato Board, Egg Board, Processed
Raspberry Council, Fluid Milk Board, Softwood Lumber Board, Honey
Board, Sorghum Board, Lamb Board, Soybean Board, Mango Board,
Watermelon Board. However, the agency is interested in stakeholder
views regarding the best methods of identification and outreach to
``other equivalent State'' entities that are established under state
commodity promotion laws, include a combination of promotion, research,
industry information, or consumer information activities, are funded by
state-mandated assessments on producers or processors, and are designed
to maintain or expand markets and uses for the commodity.
It is important to note that grants funded under this authority
will require the commodity boards who submitted proposals for AFRI RFAs
to match the awarded AFRI grants with an equal contribution of funds.
As the Agricultural Act of 2014 provides a fairly broad authority
for NIFA to solicit and evaluate proposals for RFAs that address
particular areas of interest to commodity boards, it will be important
that NIFA hear from the community about how NIFA should do the
following: Attempt to guide the priority development of AFRI RFAs that
the commodity boards or their equivalent may submit; develop evaluation
criteria for selecting RFAs submitted by commodity boards; incorporate
selected RFAs into the larger framework of the AFRI program; set upper
and lower limits on commodity board proposals; and determine the
appropriate mix of RFAs selected from proposals submitted by national
and state commodity boards.
NIFA is considering using a process where the agency would issue a
request for applications from commodity boards or their equivalent
entities that is carefully timed to fit into the existing AFRI RFA
development and application review process. The proposals for RFAs
would be subject to internal NIFA review and evaluation prior to
selection. Successful commodity board or their equivalent entity RFAs
would be released as part of the standard AFRI RFAs. Applications
submitted in response to commodity board RFAs would be reviewed
alongside the other applications within the same AFRI program area
through the current competitive peer review process.
During the commodity board mechanism's initial year, NIFA may
conduct a pilot program that would limit RFA proposals to program areas
within the AFRI Foundational program. This limitation would not itself
limit either the number of RFAs approved, or the number of awards
ultimately granted, as a result of this new authority in the pilot
year. More than one award could conceivably be issued per Commodity
Board RFA. However, it is important to note that AFRI Foundational
awards are typically limited to $500,000 each. Furthermore, NIFA may
institute additional restrictions in the pilot year.
Implementation Plans
NIFA plans to consider stakeholder input received from the Web-
based listening sessions as well as other written comments in
developing a process to implement the Commodity Board provision in FY
2015.
Done at Washington, DC this 24th day of September, 2014.
Sonny Ramaswamy,
Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2014-23352 Filed 9-29-14; 8:45 am]
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