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

12302 

Vol. 89, No. 33 

Friday, February 16, 2024 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

The Department of Agriculture will 

submit the following information 

collection requirement(s) to OMB for 

review and clearance under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13 on or after the date 

of publication of this notice. Comments 

are requested regarding: (1) whether the 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of burden including 

the validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance 

the quality, utility and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and (4) 

ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Comments regarding these 

information collections are best assured 

of having their full effect if received by 

March 18, 2024. Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be 

submitted, identified by docket number 

0535–0264, within 30 days of the 

publication of this notice by any of the 

following methods: 

• Email: ombofficer@nass.usda.gov.

Include docket number above in the 

subject line of the message. 

• E-fax: 855–838–6382.

• Mail: Mail any paper, disk, or CD–

ROM submissions to: Richard Hopper, 

NASS Clearance Officer, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Room 5336 

South Building, 1400 Independence 

Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250– 

2024. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Hand

deliver to: Richard Hopper, NASS 

Clearance Officer, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Room 5336 South Building, 

1400 Independence Avenue SW, 

Washington, DC 20250–2024. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor a collection of information 

unless the collection of information 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number and the agency informs 

potential persons who are to respond to 

the collection of information that such 

persons are not required to respond to 

the collection of information unless it 

displays a currently valid OMB control 

number. 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

(NASS) 

Title: Agricultural Surveys Program. 

OMB Control Number: 0535–0213. 

Summary of Collection: General 

authority for these data collection 

activities is granted under U.S. Code 

title 7, section 2204 which specifies that 

‘‘The Secretary of Agriculture shall 

procure and preserve all information 

concerning agriculture which he can 

obtain . . . by the collection of statistics 

. . .’’. The primary objective of the 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

(NASS) is to provide data users with 

timely and reliable agricultural 

production and economic statistics, as 

well as environmental and specialty 

agricultural related statistics. To 

accomplish this objective, NASS relies 

on the use of diverse surveys that show 

changes within the farming industry 

over time. 

The National Agricultural Statistics 

Service (NASS) is requesting a 

substantive change to the Agricultural 

Surveys Program information collection 

request (OMB No. 0535–0213) for 

program changes. Every five years NASS 

conducts a program review following 

the completion of the Census of 

Agriculture. The program changes 

balance resources across all of the 

programs included in the annual 

estimating program, which represents 

over 400 individual reports across 

multiple Information Collection 

Requests (ICRs). This substantive 

change is to accommodate the field crop 

program changes that affect this ICR. 

The methodology, publication dates, 

burden and data collection plan do not 

change as result of these program 

changes. The changes to these surveys 

will not affect burden hours. 

Need and Use of the Information: The 

surveys provide the basis for estimates 

of the current season’s crop and 

livestock production and supplies of 

grain in storage. Crop and livestock 

statistics help develop a stable 

economic atmosphere and reduce risk 

for production, marketing, and 

distribution operations. These 

commodities affect the well being of the 

nation’s farmers, commodities markets, 

and national and global agricultural 

policy. Users of agricultural statistics 

are farm organizations, agribusiness, 

state and national farm policy makers, 

and foreign buyers of agricultural 

products but the primary user of the 

statistical information is the producer. 

Agricultural statistics are also used to 

plan and administer other related 

federal and state programs in such areas 

as school lunch program, conservation, 

foreign trade, education, and recreation. 

Collecting the information less frequent 

would eliminate needed data to keep 

the government and agricultural 

industry abreast of changes at the state 

and national levels. 

Description of Respondents: Farms 

and Ranches. 

Number of Respondents: 491,600. 

Frequency of Responses: Reporting: 

Quarterly; Semi-annually; Monthly; 

Annually. 

Total Burden Hours: 184,481. 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

(NASS) 

Title: Agricultural Resource 

Management Phases 1 & 2 and Chemical 

Use Surveys. 

OMB Control Number: 0535–0218. 

Summary of Collection: General 

authority for these data collection 

activities is granted under U.S. Code 

title 7, section 2204 which specifies that 

‘‘The Secretary of Agriculture shall 

procure and preserve all information 

concerning agriculture which he can 

obtain . . . by the collection of statistics 

. . .’’. The primary objective of the 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

(NASS) is to provide data users with 

timely and reliable agricultural 

production and economic statistics, as 

well as environmental and specialty 

agricultural related statistics. To 

accomplish this objective, NASS relies 

on the use of diverse surveys that show 

changes within the farming industry 

over time. 

The National Agricultural Statistics 

Service (NASS) is requesting a 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 33 / Friday, February 16, 2024 / Notices 12303 

substantive change to the Agricultural 

Resource Management Phases 1 & 2 and 

Chemical Use Surveys information 

collection request (OMB No. 0535–0218) 

for an increase in sample size due to 

screening for changes resulting from the 

reinstatement of the Tenure, Ownership 

and Transition of Agricultural Land 

(TOTAL) for 2024. Every 10 years NASS 

conducts the TOTAL as a follow-on 

survey to the 2022 Census of 

Agriculture and are authorized by the 

Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 

2008 as amended. 

The Agricultural Resource 

Management Survey (ARMS) Phase 3 

(OMB # 0535–0275) will be suspended 

for a period of one year. The suspended 

survey will be the 2024 survey that 

would have been conducted in 2025. 

The scope of the TOTAL survey is 

greater than that of the ARMS 3 survey. 

To maintain the ARMS 3 data series, 

data will be gleaned from the TOTAL 

surveys to replace the 2024 ARMS 3 

data collection. 

As a result of the ARMS 3 data being 

gleaned from TOTAL, the 2024 

Integrated Screening Survey (ISS) will 

include the screening for the TOTAL. 

Current screening sample size approved 

for this ICR is 100,000. This substantive 

change documents the need for the 

sample size to be increased. 

Need and Use of the Information: 

ARMS is the only annual source of 

whole farm information available for 

objective evaluation of many critical 

issues related to agriculture and the 

rural economy. This issues that will be 

addressed in this request are: input 

usage, production practices, and 

chemical use. Without these data, 

decision makers cannot analyze and 

report on critical issues that affect farms 

and farm households when pesticide 

regulatory actions are being considered. 

Description of Respondents: Farms; 

Business or other for-profit. 

Number of Respondents: 416,150. 

Frequency of Responses: Reporting: 

Quarterly; Semi-annually; Monthly; 

Annually. 

Total Burden Hours: 52,147. 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

(NASS) 

Title: Water Use Survey. 

OMB Control Number: 0535–0262. 

Summary of Collection: General 

authority for these data collection 

activities is granted under U.S. Code 

title 7, section 2204 which specifies that 

‘‘The Secretary of Agriculture shall 

procure and preserve all information 

concerning agriculture which he can 

obtain . . . by the collection of statistics 

. . .’’. The primary objective of the 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

(NASS) is to provide data users with 

timely and reliable agricultural 

production and economic statistics, as 

well as environmental and specialty 

agricultural related statistics. To 

accomplish this objective, NASS relies 

on the use of diverse surveys that show 

changes within the farming industry 

over time. 

The Water Use survey program will 

collect information on water usage for 

North Carolina agricultural operations 

that likely use between 10,000 and 

1,000,000 gallons per day. Agricultural 

operations who use over 1,000,000 

gallons in any one day are required to 

report their water usage directly to 

North Carolina Department of 

Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) and 

are not included in this survey. All 

questionnaires included in this 

information collection will be 

voluntary. This project is conducted as 

a cooperative effort with the North 

Carolina Department of Agriculture and 

Consumer Services. Funding for this 

survey is being provided by NCDACS. 

Need and Use of the Information: The 

program will help the North Carolina 

Department of Agriculture and 

Consumer Services (NCDACS) and 

NCDEQ fulfill the requirements of North 

Carolina state legislation enacted in 

2008 (SL2008–0143). 

Description of Respondents: Farms; 

Business or other for-profit. 

Number of Respondents: 4,000. 

Frequency of Responses: Once for the 

even numbered years. Data are collected 

on the odd number years. 

Total Burden Hours: 1,918. 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

Title: Oregon and Washington 

Christmas Tree Survey—Production 

Year 2023. 

OMB Control Number: 0535–0264. 

Summary of Collection: The primary 

objectives of the National Agricultural 

Statistics Service (NASS) are to prepare 

and issue official State and national 

estimates of crop and livestock 

production, disposition and prices, 

economic statistics, and environmental 

statistics related to agriculture and to 

conduct the Census of Agriculture and 

its follow-on surveys. NASS will 

conduct a survey of agricultural 

operations with Christmas Tree acreage 

in Oregon and Washington. Selected 

farmers will be asked to provide data on 

(1) Number of trees sold and gross sales 

both by species and county, (2) Number 

of new seedlings by species, and (3) 

Percentage of mortality. 

General authority for these data 

collection activities is granted under 

U.S.C. Title 7, Section 2204. This survey 

will be conducted on a full cost 

recovery basis with the Oregon 

Department of Agriculture and the 

Washington State Department of 

Agriculture. 

Need and Use of the Information: 

Oregon leads the nation in Cut 

Christmas Tree production, with 

Washington also a major producer. 

NASS estimates have brought stability 

into this important Pacific Northwest 

industry. No other data source is 

available to enable growers to make 

decisions about production. This project 

involves sending a survey questionnaire 

to growers, following up on nonresponse with telephone calls, editing, 

analyzing, and summarizing the data. 

Estimates are generated, including 

adjustment for non-response for number 

of trees and value, by variety, seedlings 

planted by variety, geographic area, and 

other selected characteristics of 

Christmas Trees in the states of Oregon 

and Washington. 

Description of Respondents: A sample 

of all active agricultural operations with 

Christmas Trees in Oregon and 

Washington. Sampling will include 

strata based on acreage. 

Number of Respondents: 600. 

Frequency of Responses: Reporting: 

Once a year. 

Total Burden Hours: 147. 

Levi S. Harrell, 

Departmental Information Collection 

Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2024–03281 Filed 2–15–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–20–P 

COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS 

Sunshine Act Meetings 

AGENCY: Commission on the Social 

Status of Black Men and Boys 

(CSSBMB), U.S. Commission on Civil 

Rights. 

ACTION: Notice of CSSBMB public 

business meeting. 

DATES: Thursday, February 22 11:00 

a.m.–12:00 p.m. EDT. 

ADDRESSES: The briefing will take place 

virtually via YouTube. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Diamond Newman, 202–339–2371, 

dnewman@usccr.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with Public Law 116–156, 

1134 Stat. 700 (2020), the Commission 

on the Social Status of Black Men and 

Boys (CSSBMB) will hold its Second 

Quarter Business Meeting exploring 

CSSBMB business items, operations, 

and next steps. 

This business meeting is open to the 

public via livestream on the 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1