### United States

Department of Agriculture Anim al and Plant Health Inspection Service October 2012 **Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis** 

**Proposed Rule**  **APHIS 2012 -**  **0078 RIN 0579**  **- AD72**  **Importation of female s**  **quash flowers (**  **Curcubita pepo L.)**  **from Israel**

Policy & Program Development Policy Analysis & Developmenti



### Summary This propo sed rule would amend the regulations to allow , under certain conditions, the importation of female squash flowers ( Curcubita pepo L.) from Israel into the continental United States. Squash flowers have gained in popularit y as an elegant way to garnish dishes, desserts , and salads , and as an ingredient in other dishes . Marketing of commerciall y grown edible flowers is ty picall y directed to clientele at upscale restaurants. Farms that solel y produce squash flowers are rare. The blossoms are t ypically a b y product of squash fruit production
. Squash is commerciall y produced throughout the United States, but principally in Michigan, California, Florida, and Georgia. The Small Business Administration’s small

- entity standard for U.S farms that produce squash is annual receipts of not more than $750,000. In 2007, the average market value of sales by the 11,821 U.S farms that produced squash was about $17, 222, well below the small

- entity standard. We infer that by far most farms producing squash, including farms producing squash flowers, are small entities. Is rael is expecting to export 10 metric tons of fresh female squash flowers annually to the United St ates. We do not know the quantity or value of female squash flower production in the United States , or the quantity or value of female squash flowers imported from other countries. Without basic production and trade information, we are unable to evaluate p otential impacts of this proposed rule. We welcome information of this ty pe that would permit an anal ys is of possible effects for U.S squash flower producers.ii



### Table of Contents Summary
................................ ................................ ................................ .............................. i Introduction
................................ ................................ ................................ ......................... 3 Objectives of and Legal Basis for the Rule
................................ ................................ ........ 3 Potentially

Aff ected Small Entities
................................ ................................ ..................... 4 Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other Compliance Requirements
..................... 5 Duplication, Overlap, or Conflict w ith Existing Rules and Regulations
............................ 6 Alternatives to minimize Significant Economic Impacts of the Rule
................................ . 6iii



### Introduction The Regulatory

Flexibility

Act requires agencies to evaluate the potential effects of their proposed and final rules on small businesses, small organizations and small governmental jurisdictions. This initial regulatory flexibility

analy sis describes expected impacts of this proposed rule on s mall entities, as required by section 603 of the Act. APHI S received a request from I srael to authorize the importation of fresh female squash flowers ( Cucurbita pepo L .) into the continental United States. In response to I srael’s request, APHI S developed a risk assessment identifying mitigation measures that would prevent the introduction of plant pest s in commercial shipme nts. Under this risk assessment, female squash blossoms would enter the United States under a s ystems app roach. The s ys tem s approach in cludes measures such as growing in registered production areas, ph yt osanitary certificat ion , inspection at the port entry, and labeling of containers transporting blossoms. F emale squash flowers have gained in popularity as an elegant way

to garnish dishe s, desserts , and salads , and as an ingredient in other dishes
. Squash blossoms are marketed as individually

- wrapped male or female flower s . Marketing of commercially g r own edible flowers is ty picall y directed to clientele at upscale restaurants. Harvesting and sale of squash blossoms is time

- sensitive ; they

must me picked before growth of the squash fruit , and they have a maximum shelf life of two day s . 1

1 The Packer online news. http://www.thepacker.com/fruit

- vegetable

- news/shipping

- profiles/california

- spring

- vegetables/Spring

- interest

- blossoms

- in

- squash

- flowers

- babies

- 140306443.html2

Squash flowers are a b y - product of squash production. Production of squash plants solely for the purpos e of harvesting the flower s is rare . 2 Is rael expects to export 10 MT of female squash flowers to the continental United States per y ear . Lack of production and trade data specific to female squash flowers prevents an informed examination of expected market effects of the proposed rule. We welcome information regarding the production and sale of edible female squash flowers that would allow insight into possible effects of the proposed rule for U.S. producers of female squash flowers. U.S. squash producti on would not be affected b y this proposed rule. However, as context, we provide information on U.S. squash production levels, 2008

- 20 10, are shown in table 1. In 2010 , the United States produced 296,740 metric tons (MT) , down from 303,917 MT in 2008. Mic higan was the largest supplier over the three

- year period shown in table 1, with an average production of 60,555 MT followed b y California (53,615 MT), Florida (48,867MT), and Georgia (30,844 MT). The p ercent age share of U.S. production by these four S tate s averaged 63 percent
.

2 Institute of Food and Agricultural Services

- University of Florida.3

Table 1. Squash production in Michigan, California, Florida, Georgia, and nationally , 2008
- 2010 Sta te Aver age 2008- 2010 2008 2009 2010 Mi ch ig an 59, 874 61, 915 59, 874 60, 555 Cal ifo rni a 51, 165 55, 248 54, 431 53, 615 Fl ori da 45, 178 51, 891 49, 532 48, 867 Ge orgi a 22, 680 48, 081 21, 772 30, 844 To tal U. S producti on 303, 317 327, 448 296, 740 309, 169 To tal P roducti on of l is te d State s 178, 897 217, 135 185, 610 193, 880 Per ce nta ge s hare o f lis te d State s 59% 66% 63% 63% P ro duc ti on (M et ri c To ns)

Sour ce : N ASS Stati sti cs o f Veg et abl es an d Me lo ns, http://www.nass.usda.gov/Publ ic ati ons/Ag_S tati sti cs/ 2011/ Cha pte r04. pdf 

### Reasons Action is Being Considered The proposed rule is in response to a request made by the governm ent of Israel for APHI S to amend the regulations to allow for the commercial shipment into the United States of fresh female squash flowers, Cucurbita pepo L. A sy stems approach would be used to mitigate the risks posed by

certain plant pests. 

### Objectives **of and Legal Basis for the Rule**  The objective of this proposed rule is to allow female squash flowers to be imported into the United States from Israel. The l egal basis for this action is the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7701
- 7772 ) , which authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to prohibit or restrict the importation of an y plant product if the Secretary determines that the prohibition or restriction is necessary to prevent the introduction of a plant pest or noxious weed into the United States. The prop osed rule is part of a continuing program to allow the importation , under certain conditions , of foreign agricultural products that APHI S has determined are without significant risk of introducing pests or diseases into the United States.4



### Potentially Affec **ted Smal l Entities**  Squash flower production is classified within the North American Industry Classification Sy stem under other Vegetables (except Potato) and Melon Farming (NAICS 111219). The Small Business Administration classifies a business in this indu stry as small if its annual receipts are not more than $750,000. 3 The latest data on the number of farms that produce squash are found in the 2007 Census of Agriculture. In 2007, the average market value of squash sold by farms was about $17,222. 4 We infer that the majorit y of farms producing squash and squash flower s are small entities. Table 2 shows that between 2002 and 2007 , the number of farms producing squash increased from 11,035 to 11,821 , while the area from which squash was harvested decreased fr om 71,236 acres to 54,454 acres. In 2007, Michigan, California, Florida, and Georgia had 14 percent of the nation’s squash farms and 46 percent of squash acreage
.

3 Sm all Business Administration Table of Small Business Size Standards http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/files/Size_Standards_Table.pdf 4 20 07 U.S Census of Agriculture and NASS Statistics of Vegetables and Melons http://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Ag_Statistics/2011/Chapter04.pdf5

Table 2 . U.S s quash: Number of farms and area harvested in leading S tates , 2002 and 2007

State Numbero f fa rms in 2007 Number of

Farms i n 2002 2007 2002

U. S 11, 821 11, 035 54, 454 71, 236 Cal ifo rni a 706 830 5, 535 10, 302 Flor id a 188 406 7, 349 9, 692 Mi ch ig an 582 802 7, 513 7, 341 Ge or gi a 184 238 4, 502 9, 013 Wi sc onsin 547 625 1, 003 1, 243 Mi nessota 476 387 931 908 New Jer sey 297 588 3, 453 3, 760 New Yo rk 742 1098 3, 896 4, 226 Nor th Carol in a 503 351 2, 864 2, 864 Ar izona* 1253 49 689 324 Othe rs 7, 596 5, 710 17, 408 21, 887

Share of U. S: Top State 0. 06 0. 10 0. 14 0. 14 Top thre e state s 0. 17 0. 25 0. 37 0. 41 Top five state s 0. 26 0. 36 0. 53 0. 57 Hi ghe st pr oduc ti on State s (fr om tabl e 1) 0. 14 0. 21 0. 46 0. 51
Source : Ce nsus of Ag ri cul ture , 2007 a nd 2002. *Ow ned by the N av aj o Re ser vati on, the re for e, the y are n ot i ncl uded in t he total o f number of fa rms. Ac res Numbe r

Percent



### Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping, and Other **Compliance Requirement**  **s** Reporting and recordkeeping requirements associ ated with the proposed rule are discussed in the rule under the heading "Paperwork Reduction Act." There w ould be no compliance costs specific to this rule for U.S. small entities.6



### Duplication, Overlap **, or**  **Conflict with Existing Rules and Regulations** 
APHI S has not identified any duplication, overlap, or conflict of the proposed rule with other Federal rules
. 

### Alternatives to **minimize Significant Economic Impacts of the**  **Rule** Based on our review of available information, APHI S does n ot expect the proposed rule to have a significant economic impact on small entities. We have prepared this initial regulatory fl exibility anal ys is because our understanding of possible economic effects of the rule on small entities is incomplete. In the absence of apparent significant economic impacts, we have not identified alternatives that would minimize such impacts.