13682 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 37 / Friday, February 23, 2024 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request; Correction 

The Department of Agriculture has 

submitted the following information 

collection requirement(s) to OMB for 

review and clearance under the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

Public Law 104–13. Comments are 

requested regarding: 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; the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of burden including 

the validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used; ways to enhance the 

quality, utility and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and 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 this information 

collection received by March 25, 2024 

will be considered. Written comments 

and recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be 

submitted within 30 days of the 

publication of this notice on the 

following website www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain. Find this 

particular information collection by 

selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day 

Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or 

by using the search function. 

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 

Title: Conservation Practice Adoption 

Motivations Survey—Substantive 

Change. 

OMB Control Number: 0535–0272. 

Summary of Collection: The 

Department of Agriculture published a 

document in the Federal Register on 

February 6, 2024, 89 FR 8142 

concerning a request for comments for 

the substantive change request on the 

Information Collection ‘‘Conservation 

Practice Adoption Motivations Survey’’ 

OMB control number 0535–0272. In this 

FRN, it was stated Comments regarding 

these information collections are best 

assured of having their full effect if 

received by March 7, 2024. Written 

comments and recommendations for the 

proposed information collection should 

be submitted, identified by docket 

number 0535–0272, 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. 

That statement needs to be corrected 

to state, ‘‘Comments regarding these 

information collections are best assured 

of having their full effect if received by 

March 7, 2024. Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be 

submitted within 30 days of the 

publication of this notice on the 

following website www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain. Find this 

particular information collection by 

selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day 

Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or 

by using the search function. 

Levi S. Harrell, 

Departmental Information Collection 

Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2024–03739 Filed 2–22–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–20–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Farm Service Agency 

[Docket ID FSA–2023–0023] 

Revised Loan Volume Requirements 

for the Preferred Lender Program and 

the Certified Lender Program 

AGENCY: Farm Service Agency, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of eligibility criteria. 

SUMMARY: The Farm Service Agency 

(FSA) announces the revised loan 

volume eligibility criteria for existing 

lenders participating in the Preferred 

Lender Program (PLP) for FSA 

guaranteed loans or who have recently 

participated in PLP but lost that status 

due to loan volume requirements and 

wish to reapply. Due to decreased loan 

demand, many former PLP lenders, who 

would have otherwise been expected to 

have renewed their PLP status, have 

been unable to qualify for the renewal 

of their status in PLP within the past 5 

years due solely to loan volume 

requirements. This document applies 

lower loan volume eligibility criteria to 

PLP lenders who renew their PLP status 

and to former PLP lenders who reapply 

for PLP status after losing that status 

because they were unable to renew due 

solely to decreased loan volume within 

the 5 years immediately preceding the 

date of this notice. FSA also announces 

the revised loan volume eligibility 

criteria for all lenders participating in 

the Certified Lender Program (CLP) for 

FSA guaranteed loans due to the same 

decreased loan demand discussed 

previously. This document applies less 

restrictive loan volume eligibility 

criteria to all lenders currently 

participating in the CLP program and 

lenders applying to participate in the 

CLP program. 

DATES: Applicable date: February 23, 

2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Matthew T. Henderson; telephone: (202) 

720–5847; email: matthew.henderson2@

usda.gov. Individuals who require 

alternative means for communication 

should contact the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) Target Center at 

(202) 720–2600 (voice and text 

telephone (TTY)) or dial 711 for 

Telecommunications Relay service (both 

voice and text telephone users can 

initiate this call from any telephone). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

FSA’s PLP provides qualifying 

lenders additional authorities and 

streamlined procedures under the FSA 

guaranteed farm loan programs. In 

accordance with the criteria specified in 

7 CFR 762.106(c)(3), lenders who 

participate in the PLP must meet 

minimum loan volume thresholds that 

are established by FSA and published in 

a notice in the Federal Register. On May 

5, 1999 (64 FR 24132), FSA established 

the current PLP loan volume threshold 

of 20 FSA guaranteed loans closed in 

the past 5 years. Also, 7 CFR 

762.106(c)(1) states that lenders who 

participate in the PLP must meet all 

requirements of CLP. The CLP loan 

volume threshold was established on 

February 12, 1999 (64 FR 7404). The 

notice stated that lenders participating 

in the CLP must have closed a total of 

at least 10 FSA guaranteed loans and at 

least 5 of those FSA guaranteed loans 

must have been closed in the past 2 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 37 / Friday, February 23, 2024 / Notices 13683 

1See Smaller Operating Loans Slow Lending 

Activity—Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City 

(kansascityfed.org) at https://www.kansascity fed.org/agriculture/agfinance-updates/smalleroperating-loans-slow-lending-activity/. 

years. This resulted in the requirements 

of 20 loans in the past 5 years and 5 

loans in the past 2 years for lenders to 

meet the loan volume requirements in 7 

CFR 762.106(c)(1) and (3) to obtain PLP 

status. 

FSA regulations in 7 CFR 

762.106(f)(1) specify that the maximum 

term for PLP status cannot exceed 5 

years and 7 CFR 762.106(f)(3) specifies 

that lenders must continue to meet 

FSA’s eligibility requirements in order 

to renew their status. 

Due to decreases in overall farm 

lending,1 including FSA guaranteed 

loans, many existing PLP lenders have 

been unable to qualify for the renewal 

of their status in the PLP within the past 

5 years. In most cases, the lenders 

whose status was not renewed were 

well-established PLP lenders that 

participated in the program for 10 years 

or longer with minimal to no losses. 

This results in experienced lenders 

reverting to either CLP status or 

Standard Eligible Lender (SEL) status. 

Individual guaranteed loan applications 

submitted under the SEL or CLP status 

require more supporting documentation 

from lenders, which takes more time for 

FSA to review. In turn, this results in 

delays for producers to receive their 

loan funds. 

With this notice, FSA is amending the 

threshold required for existing PLP 

lenders to renew their status and for 

former PLP lenders whose status was 

not renewed due solely to a lack of loan 

volume within the past 5 years 

preceding the publication of this notice 

when reapplying for PLP status. This 

notice revises this PLP renewal 

threshold to 10 FSA guaranteed loans 

closed in the past 5 years. PLP lenders 

whose status was not renewed due 

solely to a lack of loan volume within 

the 5 years immediately preceding the 

date of this notice must re-apply for PLP 

status within 180 days from the 

publication of this notice in order to be 

evaluated under the revised loan 

volume criteria. Lenders who have 

never previously held PLP status, 

lenders who lost their PLP status more 

than 5 years ago, or lenders who lost 

their PLP status at any time for a reason 

other than solely a lack of loan volume 

must continue to meet the existing 

requirements of 20 loans closed in the 

past 5 years. 

This action will allow more 

experienced PLP lenders to retain their 

status in periods of decreased 

application volume which will result in 

faster application turnaround times for 

both lenders and FSA staff when 

reviewing individual guaranteed loan 

applications from those lenders. Faster 

turnaround times ensure that producers 

receive their loan funds in a timely 

manner. Also, limiting the lower 

threshold of 10 FSA guaranteed loans 

closed in the past 5 years only to PLP 

lenders renewing their status and to 

those lenders who recently lost their 

PLP status ensures that it applies only 

to lenders with an established 

knowledge of FSA guaranteed loan 

policies, who stay abreast of any recent 

policy changes, as opposed to newer 

lender applicants who may be less 

experienced with FSA’s guaranteed loan 

program requirements. Lenders who 

have never previously held PLP status 

have not yet demonstrated proficiency 

under the limited FSA supervision of 

PLP, so it is appropriate that they must 

still meet the higher threshold of 20 

loans closed in the past 5 years to 

initially obtain the PLP status. 

FSA’s CLP provides lenders with less 

experience than PLP lenders the 

opportunity to operate under a partially 

streamlined origination and servicing 

process for FSA guaranteed loans. In 

accordance with the criteria specified in 

7 CFR 762.106(b)(4), lenders who 

participate in CLP must meet minimum 

loan volume thresholds that are 

established by FSA and published in a 

notice in the Federal Register. The CLP 

loan volume threshold was established 

on February 12, 1999 (64 FR 7404). The 

notice stated that lenders participating 

in CLP must have closed a total of at 

least 10 FSA guaranteed loans and at 

least 5 of those FSA guaranteed loans 

must have been closed in the past 2 

years. 

Due to the previously cited decreases 

in farm lending, including FSA 

guaranteed loans, many existing CLP 

and PLP lenders have been unable to 

qualify for the renewal of their 

respective statuses in the past 5 years. 

In addition, FSA has found that the 

inconsistency in the timeframes for the 

loan volume requirements (currently 5 

years for PLP and 2 years for CLP) has 

created confusion and 

misunderstanding for both lenders and 

FSA staff. 

Therefore, with this notice, FSA is 

also amending the threshold required 

for existing CLP lenders to renew their 

status and for new lenders to qualify for 

CLP status. This notice revises that CLP 

loan volume threshold to 10 FSA 

guaranteed loans closed in the past 5 

years. Since guaranteed loan 

applications submitted by CLP lenders 

have more strict documentation 

requirements than those from PLP 

lenders, it is appropriate that the loan 

volume threshold for initially obtaining 

CLP status is lower than that for PLP. 

Additionally, since the new CLP 

threshold of 10 loans closed in the past 

5 years is more lenient than the current 

requirement of 5 loans closed in the past 

2 years, FSA does not see a need for a 

different threshold for renewal of CLP 

status. The following table summarizes 

the new loan volume requirements for 

both the CLP and PLP programs: 

Scenario 

Required number 

of loans closed 

in the past 5 years 

New lenders applying for CLP status ............................................................................................................................................ 10 

Existing CLP lenders renewing their status .................................................................................................................................. 10 

New lenders applying for PLP status ............................................................................................................................................ 20 

Existing PLP lenders renewing their status (and former PLP lenders reapplying for PLP status after losing that status solely 

due to decreased loan volume within the 5 years preceding publication of this notice) .......................................................... 10 

Note: Former PLP lenders reapplying for PLP status must do so within 180 days of publication of this notice for this lower threshold to apply. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

Requirements 

In compliance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), 

the approved information collection 

under OMB control number 0560–0155 

does not change and have any new 

information collection requirements. 

Environmental Review 

The environmental impacts have been 

considered in a manner consistent with 

the provisions of the National 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
13684 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 37 / Friday, February 23, 2024 / Notices 

2See https://sam.gov/content/assistance-listings. 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA, 42 

U.S.C. 4321–4347), the regulations of 

the Council on Environmental Quality 

(40 CFR parts 1500–1508), and the FSA 

regulation for compliance with NEPA (7 

CFR part 799). The changes announced 

in this notice deal with the status of the 

guaranteed lender. Each of the 

underlying proposals submitted by 

guaranteed lenders of any status will 

continue to be fully considered under 

NEPA prior to the government 

guaranteeing any loans for any 

activities, including Categorical 

Exclusions, Environmental 

Assessments, or Environmental Impact 

Statements. 

Federal Assistance Programs 

The title and number of the Federal 

assistance programs, as found in the 

Assistance Listing 2 (formerly referred to 

as the Catalog of Federal Domestic 

Assistance), to which this document 

applies is 10.406—Farm Operating 

Loans and 10.407—Farm Ownership 

Loans. 

USDA Non-Discrimination Policy 

In accordance with Federal civil 

rights law and USDA civil rights 

regulations and policies, USDA, its 

agencies, offices, and employees, and 

institutions participating in or 

administering USDA programs are 

prohibited from discriminating based on 

race, color, national origin, religion, sex, 

gender identity (including gender 

expression), sexual orientation, 

disability, age, marital status, family or 

parental status, income derived from a 

public assistance program, political 

beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior 

civil rights activity, in any program or 

activity conducted or funded by USDA 

(not all bases apply to all programs). 

Remedies and complaint filing 

deadlines vary by program or incident. 

Individuals who require alternative 

means of communication for program 

information (for example, braille, large 

print, audiotape, American Sign 

Language, etc.) should contact the 

responsible agency or the USDA 

TARGET Center at (202) 720–2600 

(voice and text telephone (TTY)) or dial 

711 for Telecommunications Relay 

Service (both voice and text telephone 

users can initiate this call from any 

telephone). Additionally, program 

information may be made available in 

languages other than English. 

To file a program discrimination 

complaint, complete the USDA Program 

Discrimination Complaint Form, AD– 

3027, found online at https://

www.usda.gov/oascr/how-to-file-aprogram-discrimination-complaint and 

at any USDA office or write a letter 

addressed to USDA and provide in the 

letter all the information requested in 

the form. To request a copy of the 

complaint form, call (866) 632–9992. 

Submit your completed form or letter to 

USDA by: (1) mail to: U.S. Department 

of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20250–9410; (2) fax: (202) 690–7442; 

or (3) email: program.intake@usda.gov. 

USDA is an equal opportunity 

provider, employer, and lender. 

Zach Ducheneaux, 

Administrator, Farm Service Agency. 

[FR Doc. 2024–03687 Filed 2–22–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3411–E2–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Forest Service 

Black Hills National Forest Advisory 

Board 

AGENCY: Forest Service, Agriculture 

(USDA). 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Black Hills National 

Forest Advisory Board will hold a 

public meeting according to the details 

shown below. The Board is authorized 

under the Forest and Rangeland 

Renewable Resources Planning Act of 

1974, the National Forest Management 

Act of 1976, the Federal Lands 

Recreation Enhancement Act, and 

operates in compliance with the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The 

purpose of the Board is to provide 

advice and recommendations on a broad 

range of forest issues such as forest plan 

revisions or amendments, forest health 

including fire, insect and disease, travel 

management, forest monitoring and 

evaluation, recreation fees, and sitespecific projects having forest-wide 

implications. 

DATES: An in-person meeting will be 

held on March 20, 2024, 1 p.m.–4:30 

p.m. mountain standard time (MST). 

Written and Oral Comments: Anyone 

wishing to provide in-person oral 

comments must pre-register by 11:59 

p.m. MST on March 15, 2024. Written 

public comments will be accepted by 

11:59 p.m. MST on March 15, 2024. 

Comments submitted after this date will 

be provided to the Forest Service, but 

the Board may not have adequate time 

to consider those comments prior to the 

meeting. 

All board meetings are subject to 

cancellation. For status of the meeting 

prior to attendance, please contact the 

person listed under FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

ADDRESSES: This meeting will be held in 

person, at the U.S. Forest Service, 

Mystic Ranger District Office, 8221 

Mount Rushmore Road, Rapid City, 

South Dakota 57702. Board information 

and meeting details can be found at the 

following website: https://

www.fs.usda.gov/main/blackhills/

workingtogether/advisorycommittees or 

by contacting the person listed under 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. 

Written Comments: Written comments 

must be sent by email to 

scott.j.jacobson@usda.gov or via mail 

(i.e., postmarked) to Scott Jacobson, 

8221 Mount Rushmore Road, Rapid 

City, South Dakota 57702. The Forest 

Service strongly prefers comments be 

submitted electronically. 

Oral Comments: Persons or 

organizations wishing to make oral 

comments must pre-register by 11:59 

p.m. MST, March 15, 2024, and 

speakers can only register for one 

speaking slot. Oral comments must be 

sent by email to scott.j.jacobson@

usda.gov or via mail (i.e., postmarked) 

to Scott Jacobson, 8221 Mount 

Rushmore Road, Rapid City, South 

Dakota 57702. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Shawn Cochran, Designated Federal 

Officer (DFO), by phone at 605–673– 

9201, or email at shawn.cochran@

usda.gov, or Scott Jacobson, Committee 

Coordinator, at 605–440–1409 or email 

at scott.j.jacobson@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

meeting agenda will include: 

1. Length of Stay on Forest 

discussion; 

2. Mitchell Dam Project; and 

3. Forest Plan Revision update. 

The agenda will include time for 

individuals to make oral statements of 

three minutes or less. Individuals 

wishing to make an oral statement 

should make a request in writing at least 

three days prior to the meeting date to 

be scheduled on the agenda. Written 

comments may be submitted to the 

Forest Service up to 7 days after the 

meeting date listed under DATES. 

Please contact the person listed under 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, by 

or before the deadline, for all questions 

related to the meeting. All comments, 

including names and addresses when 

provided, are placed in the record and 

are available for public inspection and 

copying. The public may inspect 

comments received upon request. 

Meeting Accommodations: The 

meeting location is compliant with the 

Americans with Disabilities Act, and the 

USDA provides reasonable 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1