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contains regulatory documents having general

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are keyed to and codified in the Code of

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Rules and Regulations Federal Register

18001 

Vol. 76, No. 63 

Friday, April 1, 2011 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 946 

[Doc. No. AMS–FV–11–0012; FV11–946–2 

IR] 

Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; 

Decreased Assessment Rate 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Interim rule with request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: This rule decreases the 

assessment rate established for the State 

of Washington Potato Committee 

(Committee) for the 2011–2012 and 

subsequent fiscal periods from $0.0035 

to $0.003 per hundredweight of potatoes 

handled. The Committee locally 

administers the marketing order which 

regulates the handling of Irish potatoes 

grown in Washington. Assessments 

upon Washington potato handlers are 

used by the Committee to fund 

reasonable and necessary expenses of 

the program. The fiscal period begins 

July 1 and ends June 30. The assessment 

rate will remain in effect indefinitely 

unless modified, suspended, or 

terminated. 

DATES: Effective April 2, 2011. 

Comments received by May 31, 2011, 

will be considered prior to issuance of 

a final rule. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written comments 

concerning this rule. Comments must be 

sent to the Docket Clerk, Marketing 

Order Administration Branch, Fruit and 

Vegetable Programs, AMS, USDA, 1400 

Independence Avenue, SW., STOP 

0237, Washington, DC 20250–0237; Fax: 

(202) 720–8938; or Internet: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Comments should 

reference the document number and the 

date and page number of this issue of 

the Federal Register and will be 

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: 

Teresa Hutchinson or Gary D. Olson, 

Northwest Marketing Field Office, 

Marketing Order Administration 

Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, 

AMS, USDA; Telephone: (503) 326– 

2724, Fax: (503) 326–7440, or E-mail: 

Teresa.Hutchinson@ams.usda.gov or 

GaryD.Olson@ams.usda.gov. 

Small businesses may request 

information on complying with this 

regulation by contacting Antoinette 

Carter, Marketing Order Administration 

Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, 

AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence 

Avenue, SW., STOP 0237, Washington, 

DC 20250–0237; Telephone: (202) 720– 

2491, Fax: (202) 720–8938, or E-mail: 

Antoinette.Carter@ams.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule 

is issued under Marketing Order No. 

946, as amended (7 CFR part 946), 

regulating the handling of Irish potatoes 

grown in Washington, 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 rule has been reviewed under 

Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice 

Reform. Under the marketing order now 

in effect, Washington potato handlers 

are subject to assessments. Funds to 

administer the order are derived from 

such assessments. It is intended that the 

assessment rate as issued herein will be 

applicable to all assessable potatoes 

beginning July 1, 2011, and continue 

until amended, suspended, or 

terminated. 

The Act provides that administrative 

proceedings must be exhausted before 

parties may file suit in court. Under 

section 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. Such 

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 rule decreases the assessment 

rate established for the Committee for 

the 2011–2012 and subsequent fiscal 

periods from $0.0035 to $0.003 per 

hundredweight of potatoes handled. 

The Washington potato marketing 

order provides authority for the 

Committee, with the approval of USDA, 

to formulate an annual budget of 

expenses and collect assessments from 

handlers to administer the program. The 

members of the Committee are 

producers and handlers of Washington 

potatoes. They are familiar with the 

Committee’s needs and with the costs 

for goods and services in their local area 

and are thus in a position to formulate 

an appropriate budget and assessment 

rate. The assessment rate is formulated 

and discussed in a public meeting. 

Thus, all directly affected persons have 

an opportunity to participate and 

provide input. 

For the 2005–2006 and subsequent 

fiscal periods, the Committee 

recommended, and USDA approved, an 

assessment rate that would continue in 

effect from fiscal period to fiscal period 

unless modified, suspended, or 

terminated by USDA upon 

recommendation and information 

submitted by the Committee or other 

information available to USDA. 

The Committee met on January 26, 

2011, and unanimously recommended 

2011–2012 expenditures of $40,050 and 

an assessment rate of $0.003 per 

hundredweight of potatoes. In 

comparison, last year’s budgeted 

expenditures were $39,950. The 

assessment rate of $0.003 is $0.0005 

lower than the rate currently in effect. 

This action will allow the Committee to 

reduce its financial reserve while still 


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18002 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 63 / Friday, April 1, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 

providing adequate funding to meet 

program expenses. 

The major expenditures 

recommended by the Committee for the 

2011–2012 fiscal period include $20,000 

for surveillance inspection (compliance 

activity), $4,800 for a management 

agreement with the Washington State 

Potato Commission, $3,000 for 

committee expenses, and $3,000 for 

office expenses. These budgeted 

expenses are the same as those 

approved for the 2010–2011 fiscal 

period. 

The assessment rate recommended by 

the Committee was derived by 

multiplying anticipated shipments of 

Washington potatoes by various 

assessment rates. Applying the $0.003 

per hundredweight assessment rate to 

the Committee’s 10,000,000 

hundredweight crop estimate should 

provide $30,000 in assessment income. 

Thus, income derived from handler 

assessments and interest ($500) plus 

$9,550 from the Committee’s monetary 

reserve would be adequate to cover the 

recommended $40,050 budget for 2011– 

2012. Funds in the reserve were $68,213 

as of June 30, 2010. The Committee 

estimates that $4,450 will be deducted 

from the reserve to cover budgeted 

expenses for 2010–2011. Thus, the 

Committee estimates a reserve of 

$63,763 on June 30, 2011, which would 

be within the maximum permitted by 

the order of approximately two fiscal 

period’s operational expenses (§ 946.42). 

The assessment rate established in 

this rule will continue in effect 

indefinitely unless modified, 

suspended, or terminated by USDA 

upon recommendation and information 

submitted by the Committee or other 

available information. 

Although this assessment rate is 

effective for an indefinite period, the 

Committee will continue to meet prior 

to or during each fiscal period to 

recommend a budget of expenses and 

consider recommendations for 

modification of the assessment rate. The 

dates and times of Committee meetings 

are available from the Committee or 

USDA. Committee meetings are open to 

the public and interested persons may 

express their views at these meetings. 

USDA will evaluate Committee 

recommendations and other available 

information to determine whether 

modification of the assessment rate is 

needed. Further rulemaking will be 

undertaken as necessary. The 

Committee’s 2011–2012 budget and 

those for subsequent fiscal periods will 

be reviewed and, as appropriate, 

approved by USDA. 

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 

rule 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 43 handlers of Washington 

potatoes subject to regulation under the 

order and approximately 267 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 2009–2010 marketing year, 

the Committee reports that 9,765,131 

hundredweight of Washington potatoes 

were shipped into the fresh market. 

Based on average f.o.b. prices estimated 

by the USDA’s Economic Research 

Service and Committee data on 

individual handler shipments, the 

Committee estimates that 42, or 

approximately 98 percent of the 

handlers, had annual receipts of less 

than $7,000,000. 

In addition, based on information 

provided by the National Agricultural 

Statistics Service, the average producer 

price for Washington potatoes for 2010 

was $7.55 per hundredweight. The 

average gross annual revenue for the 267 

Washington potato producers is 

therefore calculated to be approximately 

$276,130. In view of the foregoing, the 

majority of Washington potato 

producers and handlers may be 

classified as small entities. 

This rule decreases the assessment 

rate established for the Committee and 

collected from handlers for the 2011– 

2012 and subsequent fiscal periods from 

$0.0035 to $0.003 per hundredweight of 

potatoes. The Committee unanimously 

recommended 2011–2012 expenditures 

of $40,050 and an assessment rate of 

$0.003 per hundredweight. The 

assessment rate of $0.003 is $0.0005 

lower than the previous rate. This action 

will allow the Committee to reduce its 

financial reserve while still providing 

adequate funding to meet program 

expenses. 

The quantity of assessable potatoes for 

the 2011–2012 fiscal period is estimated 

at 10,000,000 hundredweight. Thus, the 

$0.003 rate should provide $30,000 in 

assessment income. Income derived 

from handler assessments, along with 

interest income and funds from the 

Committee’s authorized reserve, will be 

adequate to cover budgeted expenses. 

The major expenditures 

recommended by the Committee for the 

2011–2012 year include $20,000 for 

surveillance inspection (compliance 

activity), $4,800 for a management 

agreement with the Washington State 

Potato Commission, $3,000 for 

committee expense, and $3,000 for 

office expense. These budgeted 

expenses are the same as those 

approved for the 2010–2011 fiscal 

period. 

The Committee discussed alternatives 

to this rule, including alternative 

expenditure levels, but determined that 

the recommended expenses were 

reasonable and necessary to adequately 

cover program operations. Lower 

assessment rates were considered, but 

not recommended because they would 

reduce the financial reserve more than 

desired. 

A review of historical information and 

preliminary information pertaining to 

the upcoming fiscal period indicates 

that the grower price for the 2011–2012 

fiscal period could range between $7.40 

and $7.55 per hundredweight of 

potatoes. Therefore, the estimated 

assessment revenue for the 2011–2012 

fiscal period as a percentage of total 

grower revenue could range between 

0.0405 and 0.0397 percent. 

This action decreases the assessment 

obligation imposed on handlers. 

Assessments are applied uniformly on 

all handlers, and some of the costs may 

be passed on to producers. However, 

decreasing the assessment rate reduces 

the burden on handlers, and may reduce 

the burden on producers. 

In addition, the Committee’s meeting 

was widely publicized throughout the 

Washington potato industry and all 

interested persons were invited to 

attend the meeting and participate in 

Committee deliberations on all issues. 

Like all Committee meetings, the 

January 26, 2011, meeting was a public 

meeting and all entities, both large and 

small, were able to express views on 

this issue. Finally, interested persons 

are invited to submit comments on this 

interim rule, including the regulatory 

and informational impacts of this action 

on small businesses. 

This action imposes no additional 

reporting or recordkeeping requirements 


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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 63 / Friday, April 1, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 18003 

on either small or large Washington 

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. 

USDA has not identified any relevant 

Federal rules that duplicate, overlap, or 

conflict with this rule. 

A small business guide on complying 

with fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop 

marketing agreements and orders may 

be viewed at: http://www.ams.usda.gov/ 

MarketingOrdersSmallBusinessGuide. 

Any questions about the compliance 

guide should be sent to Antoinette 

Carter at the previously mentioned 

address in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT section. 

After consideration of all relevant 

material presented, including the 

information and recommendation 

submitted by the Committee and other 

available information, it is hereby found 

that this rule, as hereinafter set forth, 

will tend to effectuate the declared 

policy of the Act. 

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553, it is also 

found and determined upon good cause 

that it is impracticable, unnecessary, 

and contrary to the public interest to 

give preliminary notice prior to putting 

this rule into effect, and that good cause 

exists for not postponing the effective 

date of this rule until 30 days after 

publication in the Federal Register 

because: (1) The 2011–2012 fiscal 

period begins on July 1, 2011, and the 

marketing order requires that the rate of 

assessment for each fiscal period apply 

to all assessable potatoes handled 

during such fiscal period; (2) this action 

decreases the assessment rate for 

assessable potatoes beginning with the 

2011–2012 fiscal period; (3) handlers 

are aware of this action which was 

unanimously recommended by the 

Committee at a public meeting and is 

similar to other assessment rate actions 

issued in past years; and (4) this interim 

rule provides a 60-day comment period, 

and all comments timely received will 

be considered prior to finalization of 

this rule. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 946 

Marketing agreements, Potatoes, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, 7 CFR part 946 is amended as 

follows: 

PART 946—IRISH POTATOES GROWN 

IN WASHINGTON 

■ 1. The authority citation for 7 CFR 

part 946 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601–674. 

■ 2. Section 946.248 is revised to read 

as follows: 

§ 946.248 Assessment rate. 

On and after July 1, 2011, an 

assessment rate of $0.003 per 

hundredweight is established for 

Washington potatoes. 

Dated: March 28, 2011. 

David R. Shipman, 

Associate Administrator, Agricultural 

Marketing Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–7753 Filed 3–31–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 989 

[Doc. No. AMS–FV–10–0090; FV10–989–3 

FR] 

Raisins Produced From Grapes Grown 

in California; Increased Assessment 

Rate 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This rule increases the 

assessment rate established for the 

Raisin Administrative Committee 

(committee) for the 2010–11 and 

subsequent crop years from $7.50 to 

$14.00 per ton of free tonnage raisins 

acquired by handlers and reserve 

tonnage raisins released or sold to 

handlers for use in free tonnage outlets. 

The committee locally administers the 

marketing order which regulates the 

handling of California raisins produced 

from grapes grown in California. 

Assessments upon raisin handlers are 

used by the committee to fund 

reasonable and necessary expenses of 

the program. The 2010–11 crop year 

began August 1 and ends July 31. No 

volume regulation will be implemented 

for the 2010–11 crop year, and no 

reserve pool will be established for this 

crop. Some committee expenses usually 

covered by reserve pool revenues must 

therefore be covered by handler 

assessments, necessitating an increased 

assessment rate. The $14.00 per ton 

assessment would remain in effect 

indefinitely unless modified, 

suspended, or terminated. 

DATES: Effective Date: April 2, 2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Terry Vawter, Senior Marketing 

Specialist, or Kurt J. Kimmel, Regional 

Manager, California Marketing Field 

Office, Marketing Order Administration 

Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, 

AMS, USDA; Telephone: (559) 487– 

5901, Fax: (559) 487–5906; or E-mail: 

Terry.Vawter@ams.usda.gov or 

Kurt.Kimmel@ams.usda.gov. 

Small businesses may request 

information on complying with this 

regulation by contacting Antoinette 

Carter, Marketing Order Administration 

Branch, Fruit and Vegetable Programs, 

AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence 

Avenue, SW., STOP 0237, Washington, 

DC 20250–0237; Telephone: (202) 720– 

2491, Fax: (202) 720–8938, or E-mail: 

Antoinette.Carter@ams.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This rule 

is issued under Marketing Agreement 

and Order No. 989, both as amended (7 

CFR part 989), regulating the handling 

of raisins produced from grapes grown 

in California, 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 rule has been reviewed under 

Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice 

Reform. Under the marketing order now 

in effect, California raisin handlers are 

subject to assessments. Funds to 

administer the order are derived from 

such assessments. It is intended that the 

assessment rate would be applicable to 

all assessable raisins beginning on 

August 1, 2010, and continue until 

amended, suspended, or terminated. 

The Act provides that administrative 

proceedings must be exhausted before 

parties may file suit in court. Under 

section 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. Such 

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 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with RULES