15544 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 43 / Monday, March 4, 2024 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food and Nutrition Service 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Scratch Cooking 

Assessment & Learning Evaluation 

(SCALE) and Partnerships for Local 

Agriculture and Nutrition 

Transformation in Schools (PLANTS) 

Data Request for School Food 

Authorities 

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service 

(FNS), USDA. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Chef Ann Foundation 

(CAF) is a cooperative argreement 

recipient from the United States 

Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) 

Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). CAF 

plans to collect additional information 

from sub-grantees, based on an 

assessment and data report, which is 

beyond the information already 

approved under OMB Control Number: 

0584–0512 (Expiration Date: July 31, 

2025). FNS already has OMB approval 

for collection of information associated 

with these grants under the Uniform 

Grant Application for Non-Entitlement 

Discretionary Grants, as approved under 

OMB Control Number: 0584–0512. This 

notice solicits public comment on the 

additional information proposed for 

collection. 

DATES (if applicable): Written comments 

must be received on or before April 3, 

2024. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to: 

Brittany Gorman, Food and Nutrition 

Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

via email to brittany.gorman@usda.gov. 

Comments will also be accepted through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments electronically. 

All comments will be a matter of 

public record. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of this information collection 

should be directed to Brittany Gorman 

at 703–305–2621 or Brittany.gorman@

usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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, including use of appropriate 

automated, electronic, mechanical, or 

other technological collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. 

Background 

In 2023, CAF was selected as one of 

four cooperative agreement holders for 

the USDA FNS Healthy Meals 

Incentives Initiative School Food 

System Transformation Challenge. As 

part of this initiative, CAF created the 

sub-grant program, Partnerships for 

Local Agriculture and Nutrition 

Transformation in Schools (PLANTS), 

and will award eight proposals for 

projects working to build more resilient 

local food supply chains and expand 

scratch cooking in schools. PLANTS is 

already approved under Uniform Grant 

Application for Non-Entitlement 

Discretionary Grants, OMB Control 

Number 0584–0512 with an expiration 

of July 31, 2025. Eligible applications 

must be collaboratively administered by 

at least three Partners and no more than 

five Partners. An eligible application 

must include at least one School Food 

Authority (SFA) and is permitted to 

include up to four SFAs. SFAs that are 

awarded a PLANTS grant will be 

required to complete the SCALE 

assessment and the PLANTS Data 

Request annually, for a total of three 

times, throughout the grant period 

(April 2024–June 2027). 

Scratch Cooking in School Meal 

Programs 

Every day 31 million children rely on 

school meals to meet their nutritional 

needs so they are well nourished and 

ready to learn. CAF is dedicated to 

promoting whole-ingredient, scratch 

cooking in schools by providing school 

nutrition professionals with the funding 

and support they need to transition their 

meal programs to include more scratch 

cooking. 

Scratch cooking uses real food with 

real ingredients and has the potential to 

catalyze multiple benefits across the 

school food system—environmental, 

economic, social. In the context of 

USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentives 

Initiative and the PLANTS grant, scratch 

cooking also enables SFAs to play a 

critical role in building more resilient 

regional food systems. By leveraging 

their food purchases, SFAs have the 

potential to become meaningful markets 

for local producers (e.g., farmers, 

ranchers, fisherfolk), food hubs, and 

other food businesses. These dollars 

have powerful ripple effects on local 

economies that build greater prosperity 

and food system resilience while 

feeding children fresher, high-quality, 

and nutritious foods. 

The benefits of scratch cooking are 

clear. However, many SFAs that want to 

improve their meal programs do not 

have the bandwidth to assess their 

current operations or determine where 

to start. 

How does the scale assessement and 

plants data request support scratch 

cooking in schools? 

After over 12 years of school food 

operational support, CAF built SCALE, 

an online database that offers the first 

comprehensive self-assessment focused 

on improving nutrition, enhancing 

school meal programs, and increasing 

scratch cooking. This assessment 

examines a district’s food service 

operation practices in 6 Key Areas: 

• Food—menu cycles, procurement, 

reporting 

• Scratch Cooking—ingredients, 

processed elements 

• Finances—budgets, revenue/deficit, 

labor cost 

• Facilities—equipment, production, 

storage 

• Human Resources—personnel, 

professional development 

• Marketing—communication channels, 

lunchroom education activities 

Once a district completes the 

assessment, the platform generates an 

individualized report with 

recommended practices designed to 

increase operational capacity and levels 

of scratch cooking. The PLANTS Data 

Request, which has been customized for 

the PLANTS program, supplements data 

collected from SFAs via the SCALE 

assessment and includes up to two years 

of data related to an SFA’s meal counts, 

financial, procurement, menu, 

educational, and marketing practices. 

The SCALE assessment and PLANTS 

Data Request lay the foundation for all 

strategic planning, technical assistance, 

and evaluative support that CAF 

provides SFAs to transition to scratch 

cooking and achieve their PLANTS 

project goals. 

Affected Public: Business or other for 

profit; and State, local, and Tribal 

government. Respondent groups 

identified include a representative from 

each subgrantee and any Partner that is 

a SFA or School District. 

Representatives may include the Food 

Service Director and/or a designated 

food service employee. A School Food 

Authority is defined as the 

administering body for the operation of 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 43 / Monday, March 4, 2024 / Notices 15545 

a school feeding program (such as the 

National School Lunch Program and 

School Breakfast Program). This may be 

a school district, several school districts, 

or individual schools. Schools can be 

public, public charter, or private 

schools. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

The total estimated number of 

respondents is 32. PLANTS will award 

eight grants to projects that are 

collaboratively administered by at least 

three partners and no more than five 

partners. An eligible application must 

include at least one SFA and is 

permitted to include up to four SFAs. 

Therefore, a minimum of eight SFAs 

and a maximum of 32 SFAs will 

complete the SCALE assessment and 

PLANTS Data Request. It is expected 

that a majority of the Directors of the 

SFAs will complete the assessment (24), 

while larger organizations may require 

other food service personnel to 

complete the assessment (8). 

Estimated Number of Responses per 

Respondent: The estimated number of 

responses per respondent is 1 per year. 

SFAs will be asked to complete the 

SCALE assessment and PLANTS Data 

Request three separate times during the 

grant implementation period between 

April 2024–June 2027. 

Estimated Total Annual Responses: 

32. 

Estimated Time per Response: The 

estimated average time for this 

collection is 4.5 hours. FNS estimates 

that it will take each respondent 1.5 

hours to complete the SCALE 

assessment and 3 hours to complete the 

PLANTS Data Request. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 144.00 hours. See the 

table below for estimated total annual 

burden for each type of respondent. 

Respondents 

Estimated 

number of 

respondents 

Responses 

annually per 

respondent 

Total annual 

responses 

Estimated 

avg. number 

of hours per 

response 

Estimated 

total hours 

(A) (B) (C) (B) × (C) = (D) (E) (D) × (E) = (F) 

Reporting Burden 

Local Government ............... Director of Food Services .. 23 1 23 4.5 103.5 

Food Service Employee ..... 8 1 8 4.5 36 

Sub-total ....................... ............................................. 31 ........................ 31 ........................ 139.5 

For-Profit Business ............. Food Service Director ........ 1 1 1 4.5 4.5 

Total ............................. ............................................. 32.00 1 32.00 4.5 144.00 

The supporting statement for 

approved Information Collection 

Request 0584–0512 explicitly states that 

if FNS decides to use the uniform grant 

application package, FNS will note in 

the grant solicitation that applicants 

must use the uniform grant application 

package, and that the information 

collection has already been approved by 

OMB. If FNS determines that it needs 

grant applicants to provide additional 

information not contained in the 

uniform package, then FNS will publish 

at least a 30-day notice soliciting 

comments on its proposal to collect 

different or additional information 

before issuing the grant solicitation. 

FNS is publishing this 30-day notice to 

solicit public comment and meet that 

requirement. 

FNS will consider and utilize public 

comments to adjust the collection of 

additional information as appropriate 

and necessary. 

Tameka Owens, 

Assistant Administrator, Food and Nutrition 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2024–04492 Filed 3–1–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–30–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Rural Business Cooperative Service 

[DOCKET #: RBS–23–BUSINESS–0029] 

Amended Notice of Funding 

Opportunity for Rural Energy for 

America Program Technical 

Assistance Grant Program for Fiscal 

Year 2024; Extension of Submission 

Deadline 

AGENCY: Rural Business Cooperative 

Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice, extension of submission 

deadline. 

SUMMARY: The Rural Business 

Cooperative Service (RBCS or the 

Agency), a Rural Development (RD) 

agency of the United States Department 

of Agriculture (USDA), announced its 

acceptance of applications under the 

Rural Energy for America (REAP) 

Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) 

Program for fiscal year (FY) 2024 in the 

Federal Register on February 20, 2024. 

This notice is extending the date by 

which applications can be submitted. 

DATES: The deadline for submissions 

regarding the NOFO published February 

20. 2024, at 89 FR 12815, is extended 

from March 15, 2024, to March 21, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Completed applications for 

grants must be submitted electronically 

via https://www.Grants.gov or to the 

USDA RD State Office (RDSO) State 

Energy Coordinator of the State where 

the project is located via email no later 

than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on 

March 21, 2024. The RDSO State Energy 

Coordinator for the applicable State can 

be found at: https://www.rd.usda.gov/ 

contact-us/state-energy-coordinators. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jonathan Burns at jonathan.burns@

usda.gov, Business Loan and Grant 

Analyst, Direct Programs Branch, RBCS, 

USDA, (774) 678–7238. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Agency is extending the deadline 

for submissions regarding the Notice of 

Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the 

Rural Energy for America Program 

Technical Assistance Grant Program for 

Fiscal Year 2024 published February 20, 

2024, at 89 FR 12815, from March 15, 

2024, to March 21, 2024. This change is 

being made to allow Applicants a full 30 

days from publication to prepare their 

complete applications. 

Kathryn E. Dirksen Londrigan, 

Administrator, Rural Business Cooperative 

Service, USDA Rural Development. 

[FR Doc. 2024–04452 Filed 3–1–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–XY–P 


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