This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

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examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

62524 

Vol. 88, No. 175 

Tuesday, September 12, 2023 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Federal Crop Insurance Corporation 

Risk Management Agency 

[Docket ID FCIC–23–0001] 

Request for Information on Prevented 

Planting 

AGENCY: Federal Crop Insurance 

Corporation and Risk Management 

Agency, Department of Agriculture 

(USDA). 

ACTION: Notice of request for 

information; reopening of comment 

period. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Crop Insurance 

Corporation (FCIC) is reopening the 

comment period for 30 days to allow the 

public additional time to provide 

comments on the prevented planting 

provisions of the Common Crop 

Insurance Policy (CCIP), Basic 

Provisions published on May 23, 2023. 

Prevented planting is a feature of many 

crop insurance plans that provides a 

payment to cover certain pre-plant costs 

for a crop that was prevented from being 

planted due to an insurable cause of 

loss. FCIC is interested in public input 

on the following: additional prevented 

planting coverage based on harvest 

prices in situations when harvest prices 

are higher than established prices 

initially set by FCIC prior to planting; 

the requirement that acreage must have 

been planted to a crop, insured, and 

harvested, in at least 1 of the 4 most 

recent crop years; additional levels of 

prevented planting coverage; prevented 

planting coverage on contracted crops; 

and other general prevented planting 

questions. 

DATES: The comment period for the 

Request for Information on Prevented 

Planting published on May 23, 2023, (at 

88 FR 33081) is reopened. We will 

consider comments that we receive by 

October 12, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: We invite you to submit 

comments in response to this notice. 

Send your comments through the 

method below: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

https://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID FCIC–23–0001. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

All comments will be posted without 

change and will be publicly available on 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Francie Tolle; telephone (816) 926– 

7829; or email francie.tolle@usda.gov. 

Persons with disabilities who require 

alternative means for communication 

should contact the USDA Target Center 

at (202) 720–2600 (voice). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

FCIC is reopening the comment 

period for the Request for Information 

on Prevented Planting that was 

published on May 23, 2023, (at 88 FR 

33081–33084). The comment period for 

the original notice closed on September 

1, 2023. Based on requests received 

during the initial comment period, FCIC 

is reopening the comment period for an 

additional 30 days to allow the public 

to comment on the prevented planting 

provisions. 

FCIC serves America’s agricultural 

producers through effective, marketbased risk management tools to 

strengthen the economic stability of 

agricultural producers and rural 

communities. FCIC is committed to 

increasing the availability and 

effectiveness of Federal crop insurance 

as a risk management tool. The Risk 

Management Agency (RMA) administers 

the FCIC regulations. The Approved 

Insurance Providers (AIP) sell and 

service Federal crop insurance policies 

in every state through a public-private 

partnership. FCIC reinsures the AIPs 

who share the risk associated with 

losses due to natural causes. FCIC’s 

vision is to secure the future of 

agriculture by providing world class risk 

management tools to rural America. 

Prevented planting coverage pays 

when a producer is unable to plant an 

insured crop due to an insured cause of 

loss. The payment is intended to assist 

in covering the normal costs associated 

with preparing the land up to the point 

of the seed going in the ground (preplant costs). These pre-plant costs can 

include seed, purchase of machinery, 

land rent, fertilizer, actions taken to 

ready the field, pesticide, labor, and 

repairs. Coverage is calculated as a 

percent of the producer’s insurance 

guarantee (for example, 60 percent for 

soybeans). 

FCIC is interested in all general 

prevented planting comments but 

requests public input from stakeholders 

on the following specific topics: 

Prevented Planting Coverage Based on 

Harvest Prices for Revenue Protection 

Insurance 

Revenue protection is a plan of 

insurance that provides protection 

against loss of revenue due to a 

production loss, price decline or 

increase, or a combination of both. 

Under the revenue protection plan of 

insurance, yield losses are compensated 

using the harvest-time price if it is 

higher than the price FCIC projected 

prior to planting. This compensates 

producers for the replacement value of 

lost bushels. This type of coverage was 

intended to help producers mitigate the 

risk of having to buy out of delivery 

contracts they are unable to fulfill due 

to production losses. Currently, the 

prevented planting calculation for 

revenue protection is based on the 

projected price and does not increase 

with the harvest price. 

Revenue protection is the most 

popular insurance coverage in the crop 

insurance program. Under revenue 

protection, producers may elect a 

harvest price exclusion option which 

removes the protection against loss of 

revenue due to harvest price increase. 

Over 99 percent of revenue protection 

policies maintain harvest price 

coverage. 

Following the volume of prevented 

planting payments for 2019 and 2020, a 

consistent suggestion emerged to allow 

prevented planting payments to increase 

with the harvest price, as is currently 

done for lost production. Allowing the 

harvest price for prevented planting 

payments would not impact most years 

as there needs to be both an increase in 

the harvest price and a prevented 

planting claim. Historical data suggests 

the additional coverage would increase 

prevented planting payments by 

approximately 6 percent on average for 

those policies with harvest price 

revenue coverage. Consequently, there 

would need to be a corresponding 

increase in premium for these policies. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 175 / Tuesday, September 12, 2023 / Notices 62525 

1The Commodity Exchange Price Provisions 

(CEPP) are used in conjunction with either the 

Common Crop Insurance Policy Basic Provisions or 

the Area Risk Protection Insurance Basic 

Provisions, along with Crop Provisions for the 

following crops: barley, canola or rapeseed, corn, 

cotton, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, sunflowers, 

and wheat. CEPP specifies how and when the 

projected and harvest price components will be 

determined. Updated CEPP documents are on the 

RMA website at www.rma.usda.gov/Policy-andProcedure/Insurance-Plans/Commodity-ExchangePrice-Provisions-CEPP. 

The following are questions for input 

regarding prevented planting coverage 

based on the harvest price: 

1. Should prevented planting 

payments be based on the harvest price 

or the price used to establish the 

insurance guarantee (projected price)? 

2. What specific advantages or 

disadvantages do you see for allowing 

prevented planting coverage to be based 

on the harvest price? 

3. When a producer is prevented from 

planting, what additional loss does a 

producer suffer when the harvest price 

increases and what should be 

considered to estimate the value of the 

loss? 

4. Do you have any concerns about 

allowing prevented planting coverage to 

be based on the harvest price? 

Prevented Planting ‘‘1 in 4’’ 

Requirement 

Beginning with the 2021 crop year, 

FCIC revised the prevented planting 

provisions to implement the ‘‘1 in 4’’ 

requirement nationwide. The ‘‘1 in 4’’ 

requirement states that acreage must 

have been planted to a crop, insured, 

and harvested (or if not harvested, 

adjusted for claim purposes due to an 

insurable cause of loss) in at least 1 out 

of the previous 4 crop years. This was 

meant to reduce prevented planting 

payments on land that is not generally 

available to plant, thus lowering 

insurance costs for all producers. Prior 

to the 2021 crop year, the ‘‘1 in 4’’ 

requirement was only applicable to the 

Prairie Pothole National Priority Area 

and required that the acreage must be 

physically available for planting. 

In late 2022, FCIC announced the ‘‘1 

in 4’’ requirement would be removed 

from western states that have 

experienced significant ongoing drought 

in recent years. The purpose of 

removing the requirement in these states 

was to give FCIC more time to better 

understand the unique needs of western 

producers and to also ensure all parties 

can provide input on the change. 

The following are questions regarding 

the prevented planting ‘‘1 in 4’’ 

requirement: 

1. Since the nationwide 

implementation of the ‘‘1 in 4’’ 

requirement, what situations have 

created challenges due to this 

requirement for producers that have 

been prevented from planting? 

2. Do you have recommendations that 

would make the requirement more 

flexible for producers while protecting 

the integrity of the Federal Crop 

Insurance Program? 

3. Are there specific situations that 

should exempt land from the ‘‘1 in 4’’ 

requirement and why? 

4. Should the requirement be removed 

from specific areas and why? 

5. A portion of the ‘‘1 in 4’’ 

requirement allows crops that have been 

adjusted for claims purposes due to an 

insured cause of loss to be considered 

harvested. However, this allowance 

excludes claims adjusted due to the 

following causes of loss: flood, excess 

moisture, and drought. Should the 

requirement exclude specific causes of 

loss adjusted for claims purposes and 

why? 

6. Are you aware of additional 

program integrity measures or 

safeguards that should be considered 

beyond what is in place today? 

7. Do you believe there should be a 

limit on the number of consecutive 

years that a producer is eligible to 

receive a prevented planting payment 

on the same acreage? If so, what do you 

believe the limit should be? 

Prevented Planting 10 Percent 

Additional Coverage 

Insureds with additional coverage, a 

coverage level greater than catastrophic 

risk protection, may elect an additional 

level of prevented planting coverage, 

commonly referred to as buy-up 

coverage, on or before the sales closing 

date. The additional coverage level 

allows producers to better tailor their 

coverage to match their actual prevented 

planting costs. The additional level of 

prevented planting coverage also 

requires the producer pay additional 

premium. Prior to the 2018 crop year, 

two additional prevented planting 

coverage levels were available, 5 percent 

(+5) and 10 percent (+10). FCIC 

removed the +10 additional coverage 

option beginning in the 2018 crop year. 

Removing the +10 additional coverage 

option maintained the balance between 

providing coverage to producers and the 

cost to taxpayers. While FCIC has 

removed the +10 additional coverage 

option, the +5 additional coverage 

option is still available. 

RMA is considering reinstating the 

+10 additional coverage option. The 

following are questions regarding the 

+10 additional coverage option: 

1. What specific advantages or 

disadvantages do you see regarding 

reinstating the +10 additional coverage 

option? 

2. If you believe reinstating the +10 

additional coverage option will provide 

needed protection for producers, why is 

it needed in addition to the current +5 

additional coverage option? 

3. Do you have any concerns about 

reinstating the +10 additional coverage 

option? 

Prevented Planting Coverage on 

Contracted Crops 

For several crops, crop types, or 

specific practices grown under a 

contract with a processor, a contract 

price option allows a producer to use 

their contract price to determine the 

insurance guarantee. For example, the 

Contract Price Addendum allows 

organic certified and transitional 

producers of many crops to use the 

price contained in their organic contract 

for insurance. Currently, when the 

contract price option is elected, the 

prevented planting coverage is based on 

the contract price. However, it has been 

suggested that prevented planting costs 

may be the same regardless of whether 

the producer had a contract. FCIC is 

requesting input on whether the 

prevented planting guarantee should 

use the RMA established price (price 

election or projected price), regardless 

of if the contract price option has been 

elected. 

The price election is the amount 

contained in the actuarial documents 

that is the value per pound, bushel, ton, 

carton, or other applicable unit of 

measure for the purposes of determining 

premium and indemnity under the 

policy. The projected price is the price 

for each crop determined in accordance 

with the Commodity Exchange Price 

Provisions.1 The applicable projected 

price is used for each crop for which 

revenue protection is available, 

regardless of whether you elect to obtain 

revenue protection or yield protection 

for the crop. 

The following are questions regarding 

prevented planting coverage on 

contracted crops that can elect the 

contract price option: 

1. Are pre-planting costs higher for 

contracted crops? If so, explain. 

2. Should prevented planting 

payments be based on the contract price 

or RMA’s established price (price 

election or projected price)? Please 

explain why. 

3. If a contract price is used for 

prevented planting guarantee purposes, 

should there be any limitations as to 

when the contract is secured, 

specifically when a cause of loss is 

present that may prevent planting? 


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62526 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 175 / Tuesday, September 12, 2023 / Notices 

Other General Prevented Planting 

Questions 

1. Do you believe all producers will 

support paying higher premiums to 

cover the costs of expanded prevented 

planting benefits? 

2. Are pre-planting costs the same for 

all causes of loss? For example: Does a 

multi-year drought leading to failure of 

irrigation supply have the same preplanting costs as unexpected flooding 

prior to planting? 

Marcia Bunger, 

Manager, Federal Crop Insurance 

Corporation; and Administrator, Risk 

Management Agency. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19584 Filed 9–11–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–08–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food and Nutrition Service 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Proposed Collection; 

Comment Request: Additional 

Information To Be Collected From SubGrantees Under Uniform Grant 

Application Package for Discretionary 

Grant Programs 

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service 

(FNS), USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Cooperative agreement 

recipients of the United States 

Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 

Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) plan 

to collect additional information from 

sub-grantee applicants associated with 

the Healthy Meals Incentive Initiative 

(HMI 2) related to School Food System 

Transformation. FNS already has 

approval from the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) for the collection of 

information associated with the original 

cooperative agreement under the 

Uniform Grant Application for NonEntitlement Discretionary Grants, as 

approved under OMB Control Number: 

0584–0512 (Expiration Date: July 31, 

2025). This notice solicits public 

comment on the additional information 

proposed for collection. 

DATES: To be assured of consideration, 

written comments must be submitted or 

postmarked on or before October 12, 

2023. 

ADDRESSES: 

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether 

the proposed collection of information 

is necessary for the proper performance 

of the functions of the agency, including 

whether the information shall have 

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions that were 

used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected; and (d) ways to minimize 

the burden of the collection of 

information on those who are to 

respond. 

Comments must be submitted through 

one of the following methods: 

• Preferred method: Submit 

information through the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submissions. 

• Email: Send comments to 

Bethany.Showell@usda.gov with a 

subject line ‘‘Sub-grantee information 

collection under OMB Control No. 

0584–0512’’ 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bethany Showell of Food and Nutrition 

Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, 

Virginia 22314, 703–457–6783, or email 

bethany.showell@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Four 

cooperative agreement recipients of the 

United States Department of 

Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and 

Nutrition Service (FNS) will be 

soliciting requests for funding 

applications in the Fall of 2023 for subgrantee proposals associated with the 

Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative 

(HMI 2) related to School Food System 

Transformation. 

The Healthy Meals Incentives 

Initiative (HMI) is already addressed 

under OMB Approval No. 0584–0512 as 

the Child Nutrition Healthy Meals 

Incentive. FNS submitted a nonsubstantive change request to the Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) to 

provide coverage under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act (PRA) for the request for 

proposals from sub-grantees. Out of an 

abundance of caution and to ensure the 

public is fully aware upfront of the 

proposed sub-grantee submittals, FNS is 

also simultaneously issuing this 30-day 

Federal Register Notice, as explicitly 

allowed under OMB Control No. 0584– 

0512. 

Four FNS cooperative agreement 

recipients will ask for sub-grantee 

applications beyond the uniform grant 

application package discussed in OMB 

control 0584–0512. The sub-grantee 

proposals to be submitted will, in 

general, address projects that support 

the development of innovative solutions 

for K–12 food service transformation. 

The projects will support collaborative 

partnerships between non-governmental 

entities, school food authorities, and the 

school food industry to encourage new 

approaches for the improvement of the 

K–12 food system and to develop 

creative solutions to provide nutritious 

foods for school meals. The projects will 

balance a regional and national focus. 

The burden hours associated with the 

request for applications from subgrantees and the submittal of proposals, 

which we’re referring to as HMI 2, are 

delineated in this Federal Register 

Notice and already covered under the 

‘‘miscellaneous’’ grants portion of the 

existing OMB-approved information 

collection. That miscellaneous grants 

section is intended to encompass grants 

that FNS could not foresee when FNS 

submitted information collection 

request 0584–0512 to OMB. 

There are burden hours associated 

with the cooperative agreement 

recipients’ future drafting and posting of 

a request for applications from subgrantees on each cooperator’s website 

and associated communication efforts. 

The estimate is 10 hours for each of the 

four cooperators, for a total of 40 hours. 

These 40 hours would be taken from the 

existing competitive pre-award burden 

hours of approximately 4,823 already 

set aside for miscellaneous grants not 

explicitly identified in OMB approval 

number 0584–0512. 

There are burden hours associated 

with the potential for up to 250 subgrantee applicants to submit one 

proposal each. The associated burden 

would be 250 times 4 hours equals 

1,000 hours. These 1,000 hours would 

be taken from the existing competitive 

pre-award total of 4,823 burden hours 

set aside for miscellaneous competitive 

grants in OMB approval number 0584– 

0512. 

There are burden hours for subgrantees’ submittal of a progress report; 

there is a potential for up to 150 subgrantees to submit a progress report 

which is equivalent to up to 150 subgrantees times 3 hours or 450 reporting 

hours. These 450 hours would be taken 

from the post-award total of 770 hours 

set aside for miscellaneous competitive 

grants in OMB approval number 0584– 

0512. 

FNS’ cooperative agreement 

recipients who will be requesting 

project proposals from sub-grantees will 

utilize comments to be submitted to 

adjust the collection of additional 

information as necessary. 

Tameka Owens, 

Assistant Administrator, Food and Nutrition 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19631 Filed 9–11–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–30–P 


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