This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

63377 

Vol. 79, No. 205 

Thursday, October 23, 2014 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

[Doc. # AMS–14–0073; TM–14–03] 

Transportation and Marketing 

Program: Notice of Guidance 

Regarding the Specialty Crop Block 

Grant Program, Multi-State Project 

Competition 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of 

guidance with, request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing 

Service (AMS) is announcing the 

availability of a guidance document 

intended for use by State departments of 

agriculture in the 50 States, the District 

of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 

Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, 

the United States Virgin Islands, and the 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

Islands. The guidance document is 

entitled: Specialty Crop Block Grant 

Program, Multi-State Project 

Competition. This guidance document 

is intended to inform the public of the 

Transportation Marketing Program’s 

(TM) current thinking on this topic and 

will be used to develop a Request for 

Applications (RFA). Comments are 

requested on the guidance. 

DATES: To ensure that TM considers 

your comment on this guidance before 

it begins work on a RFA, submit written 

comments on the guidance by 

November 24, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons may 

submit comments on these guidance 

documents using the following 

procedures: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Comments may be submitted 

by mail to: Arthur L. Neal, Jr., Deputy 

Administrator, Transportation and 

Marketing Program, USDA–AMS–TM, 

1400 Independence Ave. SW., Room 

4543 So., Ag Stop 0264, Washington, DC 

20250–0264. 

Written comments responding to this 

request should be identified with the 

document number AMS–14–0073; TM– 

14–03. You should clearly indicate your 

position and the reasons for your 

position. If you are suggesting changes 

to the guidance document, you should 

include recommended language 

changes, as appropriate, along with any 

relevant supporting documentation. 

USDA intends to make available all 

comments, including names and 

addresses when provided, regardless of 

submission procedure used, on 

www.regulations.gov and at USDA, 

AMS, TM, Room 4543-South building, 

1400 Independence Ave. SW., 

Washington, DC, from 9 a.m. to noon 

and from 1 to 4 p.m., Monday through 

Friday (except official Federal holidays). 

Persons wanting to visit the USDA 

South Building to view comments from 

the public to this notice are requested to 

make an appointment by calling (202) 

690–1300. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Arthur L. Neal, Jr., Deputy 

Administrator, Director, Transportation 

and Marketing Program, USDA–AMS– 

TM, 1400 Independence Ave. SW., 

Room 4543 So., Ag Stop 0264, 

Washington, DC 20250–0264; 

Telephone: (202) 690–1300; Fax: (202) 

205–0338. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The Agricultural Act of 2014 (Farm 

Bill) proposes a new multi-state project 

set-aside for projects that solely enhance 

the competitiveness of specialty crops 

under the amended Specialty Crops 

Competitiveness Act of 2004 (7 U.S.C 

1621 note) USDA may use no-year 

funding of $1 million in 2014, 

increasing $1 million per fiscal year to 

$5 million in 2018 to support multistate projects. Under subsection (j) of 

section 101 of the Specialty Crops 

Competitiveness Act of 2004 (the Act), 

USDA has been instructed to provide 

guidance on how grants will be made to 

multistate projects involving (1) food 

safety; (2) plant pests and disease; (3) 

research; (4) crop-specific projects 

addressing common issues; and (5) any 

other area that furthers the purposes of 

the section, as determined by the 

Secretary. 

This guidance describes the 

Transportation and Marketing Program’s 

(TM) current thinking on the 

administration of the Specialty Crop 

Block Grant Program, Multi-State 

Project Competition (SCBG–MSPC), 

specifically, the framework for 

implementing the competitive grant 

program. The guidance describes 

parameters of the program including 

objectives and eligibility criteria for 

projects and applicants. AMS will use 

the guidance and comments received to 

develop a Request for Applications that 

meets the requirements of section 10010 

of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Farm 

Bill), which amends Section 101 of the 

Specialty Crops Competiveness Act of 

2004 to add grants for multistate 

projects (7 U.S.C. 1621 note; Pub. L. 

108–465). 

This guidance provides information to 

all State departments of agriculture in 

the 50 States, the District of Columbia, 

the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

Guam, American Samoa, the United 

States Virgin Islands, and the 

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

Islands. This guidance also informs 

organizations that desire to partner with 

States on multi-state specialty crop 

projects. It shares the definition of a 

multi-state project, the priority areas, 

indicators of successful applications, 

material regarding proposal 

development, award information, grant 

period duration, award size, eligibility 

information, and application review 

information. The guidance is available 

from AMS on its Specialty Crop Block 

Grant Program Web site at http://www.

ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/scbgp. 

II. Significance of Guidance 

This guidance document is being 

issued in accordance with the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

Bulletin on Agency Good Guidance 

Practices (GGPs) (January 25, 2007, 72 

FR 3432–3440). 

The purpose of GGPs is to ensure that 

program guidance documents are 

developed with adequate public 

participation, are readily available to the 

public, and are not applied as binding 

requirements. This guidance represents 

TM’s current thinking on the topic. It 

does not create or confer any rights for, 

or on, any person and does not operate 

to bind the TM or the public. Guidance 

documents are intended to provide a 

uniform method for operations to 

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63378 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 205 / Thursday, October 23, 2014 / Notices 

comply that can reduce the burden of 

developing their own methods and 

simplify audits and inspections. 

Alternative approaches that can 

demonstrate compliance with the 

Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act, as 

amended, (7 U.S.C. 1621 note) will be 

considered. As with any alternative 

approach, TM strongly encourages 

States and industry to discuss 

alternative approaches with TM before 

implementing them to avoid 

unnecessary or wasteful expenditures of 

resources and to ensure the proposed 

alternative approach complies with the 

Act. 

III. Electronic Access 

Persons with access to Internet may 

obtain the guidance at either AMS’ 

Specialty Crop Block Grant Web site at 

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/

scbgp or http://www.regulations.gov. 

Requests for hard copies of the guidance 

documents can be obtained by 

submitting a written request to the 

person listed in the ADDRESSES section 

of this Notice. 

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

Dated: October 20, 2014. 

Rex A. Barnes, 

Associate Administrator, Agricultural 

Marketing Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25270 Filed 10–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

[Doc. # AMS–FV–13–0018] 

United States Standards for Grades of 

Creole Onions 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Final notice. 

SUMMARY: This Notice revises the U.S. 

Standards for Grades of Creole Onions, 

which are issued under the Agricultural 

Marketing Act of 1946. The Agricultural 

Marketing Service (AMS) is amending 

the similar varietal characteristic 

requirement to allow mixed colors of 

onions, when designated as a mixed or 

specialty pack, to be certified to a U.S. 

grade. In addition, AMS will correct 

language and remove the ‘‘Unclassified’’ 

category from the standards. These 

revisions will align the standards with 

today’s marketing practices and provide 

the industry with greater flexibility. 

DATES: Effective Date: November 24, 

2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Dave Horner, Standardization Branch, 

Specialty Crops Inspection (SCI) 

Division, (540) 361–1128 or 1150. The 

current U.S. Standards for Grades of 

Creole Onions are available on the SCI 

Division Web site at http://www.ams.

usda.gov/scihome. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

203(c) of the Agricultural Marketing Act 

of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621–1627), as 

amended, directs and authorizes the 

Secretary of Agriculture ‘‘to develop and 

improve standards of quality, condition, 

quantity, grade and packaging, and 

recommend and demonstrate such 

standards in order to encourage 

uniformity and consistency in 

commercial practices.’’ AMS is 

committed to carrying out this authority 

in a manner that facilitates the 

marketing of agricultural commodities 

and makes copies of official standards 

available upon request. The U.S. 

standards for grades of fruits and 

vegetables that are not connected with 

marketing orders or U.S. import 

requirements no longer appear in the 

Code of Federal Regulations, but are 

maintained by USDA, AMS, Fruit and 

Vegetable Program, and are available on 

the Internet at www.ams.usda.gov/

scihome. 

AMS is revising the voluntary U.S. 

Standards for Grades of Creole Onions 

using the procedures that appear in Part 

36, Title 7 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations (7 CFR part 36). 

Background and Comments 

The industry, particularly in Idaho, 

Oregon, Texas, and Washington, are 

packing mixed colors of onions. 

Currently, the Creole onion standards 

do not permit certifying a U.S. grade to 

a pack that comingles colors, such as 

white onions with yellow to brownish 

red onions. 

On August 22, 2013, AMS published 

a notice in the Federal Register (78 FR 

52131) proposing to revise the U.S. 

Standards for Grades of Creole Onions 

to allow mixed color packs of onions to 

be certified to a U.S. grade. We apprised 

the onion industry of this notice to 

foster widespread participation in the 

Part 36 process. The comment period 

closed on October 21, 2013. No 

comments were received. Based on the 

information gathered, AMS will amend 

the similar varietal characteristic 

requirement in the U.S. No. 1 and U.S. 

No. 2 sections of the standards by 

adding ‘‘except color when designated 

as a specialty or mixed pack.’’ The U.S. 

Combination grade section also will be 

amended to reflect this change. 

In addition, AMS will eliminate the 

‘‘Unclassified’’ section. AMS is 

removing this section from standards for 

all commodities as they are revised. 

This category, which is not a grade and 

only serves to show that no grade has 

been applied to the lot, is no longer 

necessary. 

Furthermore, AMS will replace the 

capital ‘‘S’’ with a small ‘‘s’’ on the 

word ‘‘Seedstems’’ in the U.S. No. 1 and 

U.S. No. 2 sections of the standards to 

correct a formatting error. 

These revisions will facilitate onion 

marketing in the competitive U.S. 

market. 

The official grade of a lot of Creole 

onions covered by these standards will 

be determined by the procedures set 

forth in the Regulations Governing 

Inspection, Certification, and Standards 

of Fresh Fruits, Vegetables and Other 

Products (Sec. 51.1 to 51.61). 

The U.S. Standards for Grades of 

Creole Onions will be effective 30 days 

after publication of this notice in the 

Federal Register. 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 1621–1627. 

Dated: October 17, 2014. 

Rex A. Barnes, 

Associate Administrator, Agricultural 

Marketing Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25195 Filed 10–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Black Hills National Forest Advisory 

Board 

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Black Hills National 

Forest Advisory Board (Board) will meet 

in Rapid City, South Dakota. The Board 

is established consistent with the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act of 

1972 (5 U.S.C. App. II), the Forest and 

Rangeland Renewable Resources 

Planning Act of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1600 et. 

seq.), the National Forest Management 

Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. sec. 1612), and 

the Federal Public Lands Recreation 

Enhancement Act (Pub. L. 108–447). 

Additional information concerning the 

Board, including the meeting summary/ 

minutes, can be found by visiting the 

Board’s Web site at: http://www.fs.usda.

gov/main/blackhills/workingtogether/

advisorycommittees. 

DATES: The meeting will be held 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 1 

p.m. 

All meetings are subject to 

cancellation. For updated status of 

meeting prior to attendance, please 

contact the person listed under FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 

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