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Notices Federal Register

6531 

Vol. 77, No. 26 

Wednesday, February 8, 2012 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

[Doc. No. AMS–FV–11–0089] 

Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) 

Inviting Applications for the Specialty 

Crop Block Grant Program–Farm Bill 

(SCBGP–FB) 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing 

Service (AMS) announces the 

availability of approximately $55 

million in grant funds, less USDA 

administrative costs, for fiscal year (FY) 

2012, to solely enhance the 

competitiveness of specialty crops. 

SCBGP–FB funds are authorized by the 

Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 

2008 (the Farm Bill). State departments 

of agriculture are encouraged to develop 

their grant applications promptly. State 

departments of agriculture interested in 

obtaining grant program funds are 

invited to submit applications to USDA. 

State departments of agriculture, 

meaning agencies, commissions, or 

departments of a State government 

responsible for agriculture within the 50 

States, the District of Columbia, the 

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, 

American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin 

Islands, and the Commonwealth of the 

Northern Mariana Islands are eligible to 

apply. 

DATES: Applications must be received 

between February 8, 2012 and not later 

than July 11, 2012. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Trista Etzig, Phone: (202) 690–4942, 

email: trista.etzig@ams.usda.gov or your 

State department of agriculture listed on 

the SCBGP and SCBGP–FB Web site at 

www.ams.usda.gov/scbgp. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SCBGP– 

FB is authorized under Section 101 of 

the Specialty Crops Competitiveness 

Act of 2004 (7 U.S.C. 1621 note) and 

amended under Section 10109 of the 

Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 

2008, Public Law 110–246 (the Farm 

Bill). SCBGP–FB is currently 

implemented under 7 CFR Part 1291 

(published March 27, 2009; 74 FR 

13313). 

The SCBGP–FB assists State 

departments of agriculture in solely 

enhancing the competitiveness of U.S. 

specialty crops. Specialty crops are 

defined as fruits and vegetables, dried 

fruit, tree nuts, horticulture, nursery 

crops (including floriculture). 

AMS encourages states to develop 

projects solely to enhance the 

competitiveness of specialty crops 

pertaining to the following issues 

affecting the specialty crop industry: 

increasing child and adult nutrition 

knowledge and consumption of 

specialty crops; improving efficiency 

and reducing costs of distribution 

systems; assisting all entities in the 

specialty crop distribution chain in 

developing ‘‘Good Agricultural 

Practices,’’ ‘‘Good Handling Practices.’’ 

‘‘Good Manufacturing Practices,’’ and in 

cost-share arrangements for funding 

audits of such systems for small farmers, 

packers and processors; investing in 

specialty crop research, including 

research to focus on conservation and 

environmental outcomes; enhancing 

food safety; developing new and 

improved seed varieties and specialty 

crops; pest and disease control; and 

development of organic and sustainable 

production practices. 

States may wish to consider 

submitting grants that increase the 

competitiveness of specialty crop 

farmers, including Native American and 

disadvantaged farmers. Increasing 

competitiveness may include 

developing local and regional food 

systems, and improving food access in 

underserved communities. 

Projects that support biobased 

products and bioenergy and energy 

programs, including biofuels and other 

alternative uses for agricultural and 

forestry commodities (development of 

biobased products) should see the 

USDA energy Web site at: http:// 

www.energymatrix.usda.gov/ for 

information on how to submit those 

projects for consideration to the energy 

programs supported by USDA. Also, 

agricultural cooperatives, producer 

networks, producer associations, local 

governments, nonprofit corporations, 

public health corporations, economic 

development corporations, regional 

farmers’ market authorities and Tribal 

governments that are interested in 

submitting projects that support 

farmers’ markets that do not solely 

enhance the competitiveness of eligible 

specialty crops should visit the Farmers’ 

Market Promotion Program (FMPP) Web 

site at: www.ams.usda.gov/fmpp for 

information on how to submit those 

projects for consideration to FMPP. 

Each interested State department of 

agriculture must submit an application 

for SCBGP–FB grant funds anytime 

between February 8, 2012 and on or 

before July 11, 2012, through 

www.grants.gov. AMS will work with 

each State department of agriculture and 

provide assistance as necessary. 

Other organizations interested in 

participating in this program should 

contact their local State department of 

agriculture. State departments of 

agriculture specifically named under the 

authorizing legislation should assume 

the lead role in SCBGP–FB projects, and 

use cooperative or contractual linkages 

with other agencies, universities, 

institutions, and producer, industry or 

community-based organizations as 

appropriate. 

Additional details about the SCBGP– 

FB application process for all applicants 

are available at the SCBGP–FB Web site: 

http://www.ams.usda.gov/fv/. 

To be eligible for a grant, each State 

department of agriculture’s application 

shall be clear and succinct and include 

the following documentation 

satisfactory to AMS: 

(A) One SF–424 ‘‘Application for 

Federal Assistance.’’ The grant period 

must start on or before September 30, 

2012 and end no later than September 

29, 2015. 

(B) SF–424A ‘‘Budget Information— 

Non-Construction Programs’’ showing 

the budget for each project. 

(C) One SF–424B ‘‘Assurances—NonConstruction Program.’’ 

(D) Completed applications must also 

include one State plan to show how 

grant funds will be utilized to solely 

enhance the competitiveness of 

specialty crops. The State plan shall 

include the following: 

(1) Cover page and granting processes. 

Include the point of contact and lead 

agency for administering the plan. 

Include the steps taken to conduct 


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6532 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 26 / Wednesday, February 8, 2012 / Notices 

outreach to specialty crop stakeholders 

to receive and consider public comment 

to identify state funding priorities 

needs, including any focus on multistate projects in enhancing the 

competitiveness of specialty crops. 

Provide the identified funding priority 

areas. Describe the methods used to 

identify socially disadvantaged and 

beginning farmers and reach out to these 

groups about the SCBGP–FB. Identify by 

project title if an award was made to 

either a socially disadvantaged farmer or 

a beginning farmer. If steps were not 

taken to conduct outreach to socially 

disadvantaged and beginning farmers, 

provide a justification for why not. 

Provide a description of the affirmative 

steps taken to conduct a competitive 

grant process. Describe the methods 

used to solicit proposals that met 

identified specialty crop funding 

priority needs. Include the number of 

grant proposals that were received. 

Describe how members on the review 

panel were selected to ensure they were 

free from conflicts of interest and 

consisted of a community of experts in 

various fields, who were qualified and 

able to perform impartial reviews. 

Identify what fields the review panel 

members were from. State if the review 

results of the peer review panel were 

given to the grant applicants ensuring 

the confidentiality of the review panel 

members. If a competitive grant process 

was not used, provide a justification 

why not. 

(2) State Department of Agriculture 

Oversight. Describe how and when the 

State department of agriculture will 

oversee subgrantee activities to ensure 

proper and efficient administration of 

grant funds. Include timelines for 

oversight activities. If grant funds will 

be used for direct administration of the 

grant agreement, include a budget 

breakdown to include percent of fulltime equivalents (FTE), percent fringe 

benefits, supplies, etc. Also, include the 

administrative ‘‘project’’ on the SF– 

424A ‘‘Budget Information—NonConstruction Programs’’ including 

indirect costs. 

(3) Project title, partner organization 

name, abstract. Include the title of the 

project, the name of the organization 

that will partner with the State 

department of agriculture to lead and 

execute the project, and an abstract of 

200 or fewer words for each project. 

(4) Project purpose. For each project, 

clearly state the purpose of the project. 

Describe the specific issue, problem, 

interest, or need to be addressed. 

Explain why the project is important 

and timely and identify the objectives of 

the project. If the project has the 

potential to enhance the competiveness 

of non-specialty crops, describe the 

methods or processes the applicant will 

use to ensure all grant funds will solely 

enhance the competitiveness of eligible 

specialty crops as defined in 7 CFR 

1291.2(n). If a project builds on a 

previous SCBGP or SCBGP–FB project, 

indicate how the projects differ from 

one another. For each project, indicate 

if the project will be or has been 

submitted to or funded by another 

Federal or State grant program. If the 

project was submitted to or funded by 

another Federal or State grant program, 

describe how the project differs from 

and supplements efforts of the SCBGP– 

FB and the other Federal or State grant 

program and does not duplicate funding 

efforts. The SCBGP–FB will not fund 

duplicative projects. 

(5) Potential impact. This section 

shall show how the project potentially 

impacts the specialty crop industry and/ 

or the public rather than a single 

organization, institution, or individual. 

Identify who the specialty crop 

beneficiaries of the project are, the 

number of specialty crop beneficiaries 

impacted, how the specialty crop 

beneficiaries are impacted by the 

project, and/or the potential economic 

impact if such data are available and 

relevant to the project. 

(6) Expected Measurable Outcomes. 

For each project, describe at least one 

distinct, quantifiable, and measurable 

outcome-oriented objective that directly 

and meaningfully supports the project’s 

purpose. The measurable outcomeoriented objective must define an event 

or condition that is external to the 

project and that is of direct importance 

to the intended beneficiaries and/or the 

public. The measurable outcomes, when 

possible, should include a goal, 

performance measure, benchmark, and 

target. Outcome measures may be long 

term and may exceed the grant period. 

For each project, describe how 

performance toward meeting outcomes 

will be monitored by identifying the 

data sources that will be used to 

monitor performance and how the data 

will be collected. 

(7) Work Plan. For each project, 

explain briefly the activities that will be 

performed to accomplish the objectives 

of the project. Be clear about who will 

do the work and when each activity will 

be accomplished to include beginning 

and end dates for each project. Include 

the performance monitoring/data 

collection plan and how outcomes will 

be measured or completed inside the 

grant period. 

(8) Budget Narrative. Provide in 

sufficient detail information about the 

budget categories listed on SF–424A for 

each project to demonstrate that grant 

funds are being expended on eligible 

grant activities that meet the purpose of 

the program and that costs are 

reasonable and allowable. 

(a) Personnel—For each project 

participant, indicate their title, percent 

FTE, and corresponding salary for the 

FTE. Show the total for all SCBGP–FB 

funded personnel. 

(b) Fringe benefits—Provide the rate 

of fringe benefits for each project 

participant’s salary described in the 

personnel section. Show the total for all 

SCBGP–FB funded fringe benefits. 

(c) Travel—Provide the following 

information in the narrative if 

applicable: Ddestination; purpose of 

trip; number of trips; number of people 

traveling; number of days traveling; 

estimated airfare costs; estimated 

ground transportation costs; estimated 

lodging and meals costs; and estimated 

mileage rate and costs for the travel. 

Show the total for all SCBGP–FB funded 

travel. 

(d) Equipment—Provide an itemized 

list of equipment purchases or rentals, 

along with a brief narrative on the 

intended use of each equipment item, 

and the cost for all the equipment 

purchases or rentals. Show the total for 

all SCBGP–FB funded equipment. 

(e) Supplies—Provide an itemized list 

and estimate the dollar amount for each 

item. Show the total for all SCBGP–FB 

funded supplies. 

(f) Contractual—Provide a short 

description of the services each contract 

covers. Indicate if the cost is a flat rate 

fee or hourly rate. Indicate the flat rate 

fee or hourly rate to be applied. If 

hourly rates exceed the salary of a GS– 

14 step 10 Federal employee in your 

area (for more information please go to 

www.opm.gov and click on Salaries and 

Wages), please provide a justification. 

List general categories of items the 

contract covers such as professional 

services, travel, lodging, indirect costs, 

etc. Show the total for all SCBGP–FB 

funded contractual. 

(g) Other—Provide a detailed 

description of all other direct costs such 

as mailings, postage, express mail, faxes, 

and telephone long distance charges; 

speaker/trainer fees to include the 

amount of the speaker’s fees and a 

description of the services they are 

providing; publication costs to include 

the estimated cost of printing of 

brochures and other program materials 

or scientific or technical journals as well 

as an estimate of the number of pieces 

to be printed/published; data collection 

to include the estimated costs of 

collecting performance data to measure 

the project outcome measures; and the 

costs of holding a conference or 

meeting. If meals are budgeted for a 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 26 / Wednesday, February 8, 2012 / Notices 6533 

conference or meeting for reasons other 

than meals associated with travel per 

diem, provide an adequate justification 

for why these costs should not be 

considered entertainment costs. Show 

the total for all SCBGP–FB funded other. 

(h) Indirect Costs—Indicate percent of 

indirect costs. Show the total for all 

SCBGP–FB funded indirect charges. 

Indirect costs for this grant period 

should not exceed 10 percent of any 

proposed budget. (i) Program Income— 

Indicate the nature or source of program 

income (i.e., registration fees). 

(i) Estimate the amount of program 

income. Describe how the income will 

be used to further enhance the 

competitiveness of specialty crops. 

(9) Project Partner Oversight. Describe 

who or what organization will oversee 

the project activities and how will 

oversight be performed to ensure proper 

and efficient administration for each 

project. 

(10) Project Commitment. Describe 

briefly what specialty crop stakeholders 

outside the lead organization support 

this project and how all grant project 

stakeholders work toward the goals and 

outcomes of the project. 

(11) Multi-state Projects. If the project 

is a multi-state project, identify the 

other states that are participating, 

describe how the states are going to 

collaborate effectively with related 

projects with one state assuming the 

coordinating role. Indicate the percent 

of the budget covered by each state. 

Each State department of agriculture 

that submits an application that is 

reviewed and approved by AMS is to 

receive a base grant of 181,109.88 to 

solely enhance the competitiveness of 

specialty crops. In addition, AMS will 

allocate the remainder of the grant funds 

based on the proportion of the value of 

specialty crop production in the state in 

relation to the national value of 

specialty crop production using the 

latest available (2010 National 

Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) 

cash receipt data for the 50 States and 

the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 2007 

Census of Agriculture cash receipts for 

Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

Islands, and 2002 Census of Agriculture 

cash receipts for American Samoa) 

specialty crop production data in all 

states whose applications are accepted. 

The amount of the base grant plus 

value of production available to each 

State department of agriculture shall be: 

(1) Alabama .......................... $400,934.95 

(2) Alaska ............................. 194,889.46 

(3) American Samoa ............ 215,529.21 

(4) Arizona ........................... 1,263,013.24 

(5) Arkansas ......................... 255,175.60 

(6) California ........................ 18,671,947.22 

(7) Colorado ......................... 680,621.81 

(8) Connecticut .................... 403,982.43 

(9) Delaware ......................... 244,484.20 

(10) District of Columbia ..... 181,109.88 

(11) Florida .......................... 4,475,725.74 

(12) Georgia .......................... 1,130,698.80 

(13) Guam ............................ 182,946.05 

(14) Hawaii .......................... 378,686.07 

(15) Idaho ............................. 928,736.45 

(16) Illinois ........................... 632,932.59 

(17) Indiana .......................... 398,023.16 

(18) Iowa .............................. 271,120.00 

(19) Kansas ........................... 258,362.52 

(20) Kentucky ...................... 260,991.65 

(21) Louisiana ...................... 350,782.43 

(22) Maine ............................ 402,360.32 

(23) Maryland ...................... 393,434.24 

(24) Massachusetts ............... 438,930.75 

(25) Michigan ....................... 1,337,219.16 

(26) Minnesota ..................... 703,253.61 

(27) Mississippi ................... 281,843.82 

(28) Missouri ........................ 350,592.48 

(29) Montana ........................ 328,477.01 

(30) Nebraska ....................... 331,838.05 

(31) Nevada .......................... 259,473.57 

(32) New Hampshire ........... 238,459.35 

(33) New Jersey .................... 814,882.47 

(34) New Mexico ................. 514,648.73 

(35) New York ..................... 1,114,085.81 

(36) North Carolina .............. 1,151,269.80 

(37) North Dakota ................ 614,984.68 

(38) Northern Mariana Islands ................................. 182,504.34 

(39) Ohio .............................. 642,019.98 

(40) Oklahoma ..................... 384,159.91 

(41) Oregon .......................... 1,487,908.90 

(42) Pennsylvania ................ 1,027,509.84 

(43) Puerto Rico ................... 381,396.61 

(44) Rhode Island ................ 217,256.69 

(45) South Carolina ............. 552,450.81 

(46) South Dakota ................ 207,600.20 

(47) Tennessee ..................... 527,123.55 

(48) Texas ............................. 1,850,776.76 

(49) U.S. Virgin Islands ....... 182,263.14 

(50) Utah .............................. 289,055.09 

(51) Vermont ........................ 223,751.88 

(52) Virginia ......................... 495,018.42 

(53) Washington ................... 3,320,842.83 

(54) West Virginia ................ 217,160.21 

(55) Wisconsin ..................... 882,214.81 

(56) Wyoming ...................... 205,501.72 

Funds not obligated will be allocated 

pro rata to the remaining States which 

applied during the specified grant 

application period to be solely 

expended on projects previously 

approved in their State plan. AMS will 

notify the States as to the procedures for 

applying for the reallocated funds. 

AMS requires applicants to submit 

SCBGP–FB applications electronically 

through the central Federal grants web 

site, www.grants.gov instead of mailing 

hard copy documents. Original 

signatures are not needed on the SF–424 

and SF–424B when applying through 

www.grants.gov and applicants are not 

required to submit any paper documents 

to AMS. Applicants are strongly urged 

to familiarize themselves with the 

Federal grants web site and begin the 

application process well before the 

application deadline. For information 

on how to apply electronically, please 

consult http://www.grants.gov/ 

applicants/get_registered.jsp. AMS will 

send an email confirmation when 

applications are received by the AMS 

office. 

SCBGP–FB is listed in the ‘‘Catalog of 

Federal Domestic Assistance’’ under 

number 10.170 and subject agencies 

must adhere to Title VI of the Civil 

Rights Act of 1964, which bars 

discrimination in all federally assisted 

programs. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1621 note. 

Dated: January 31, 2012. 

Robert C. Keeney, 

Acting Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–2849 Filed 2–7–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Farm Service Agency 

Commodity Credit Corporation 

Information Collection Request; 

Assignment and Joint Payment 

Elections 

AGENCY: Farm Service Agency and 

Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) 

and Farm Service Agency (FSA) are 

seeking comments from all interested 

individuals and organizations on an 

extension and a revision of a currently 

approved information collection 

associated with Assignment and Joint 

Payment Elections. The information 

collection is in support of 7 CFR part 

1404, which sets forth the manner in 

which a person may voluntarily assign 

a cash payment made by FSA or CCC to 

a third party. In addition, a payment 

recipient may voluntarily elect to have 

a cash payment made jointly to the 

payment recipient and a third party. 

DATES: We will consider comments that 

we receive by April 9, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit 

comments on this notice. In your 

comments, include the date, volume, 

and page number of this issue of the 

Federal Register, the OMB control 

number and the title of the information 

collection. You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. 


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