Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 175 / Tuesday, September 10, 2024 / Notices 73355 

Research, Education, and Economics; or 

the Administrator of NASS may request. 

The Committee will meet at least 

annually. All meetings are open to the 

public. Committee members are 

reimbursed for official travel expenses 

only. 

Description of Duties: The duties of 

the Committee are solely advisory in 

nature. The Committee makes 

recommendations to the Secretary of 

Agriculture regarding the agricultural 

statistics program of NASS, and such 

other matters as it may deem advisable, 

or which the Secretary of Agriculture; 

the Under Secretary for Research, 

Education, and Economics; or the 

Administrator of NASS may request. 

Agency or Official to Whom the 

Committee Reports: The Committee 

reports to the Secretary of Agriculture 

through the Under Secretary for 

Research, Education, and Economics. 

Committee Membership: The 

Secretary of Agriculture will appoint the 

membership of the Committee. 

Furthermore, members will serve for 

two-year terms, and may serve no more 

than three consecutive terms for a total 

of six consecutive years. Membership 

will consist of 22 individuals with 

diverse capabilities distinguished by 

their broad range of knowledge and 

interest in, though not limited to, 

agricultural economics, rural sociology, 

farm policy analysis, and agricultural 

education. Members will also be drawn 

from Educational and Research 

Organizations; Farm Service and 

Marketing Organizations; State 

Government Agricultural Agencies; and 

Farm, Ranch and Agriculture Producers. 

A representative from the Bureau of the 

Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, 

and a representative from the Economic 

Research Service, USDA, shall serve as 

ex-officio members of the Committee. 

This Committee will be fairly 

balanced in its membership in terms of 

the points of view represented and the 

functions to be performed. Steps will be 

taken to encourage fresh points of view, 

such as establishing staggered 

membership terms and limiting the 

number of renewed memberships. 

Equal opportunity practices in 

accordance with USDA policies will be 

followed in all appointments to the 

Committee. To ensure that the 

recommendations of the Committee 

have taken into account the needs of the 

diverse groups served by the 

Department, membership shall include, 

to the extent practicable, individuals 

with demonstrated ability to represent 

the many communities, identities, races, 

ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities, 

cultures, and beliefs of the American 

people, including underserved 

communities. 

The USDA prohibits discrimination in 

all of its programs and activities on the 

basis of race, color, national origin, 

religion, sex, (including gender identity 

and sexual orientation), disability, age, 

marital status, familial or parental 

status, income derived from a public 

assistance program, political beliefs, 

genetic information, 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). 

Ethics Statement: To maintain the 

highest levels of honesty, integrity and 

ethical conduct, no Committee or 

Subcommittee member shall participate 

in any ‘‘specific party matters’’ (i.e., 

matters are narrowly focused and 

typically involve specific transactions 

between identified parties) such as a 

lease, license, permit, contract, claim, 

grant, agreement, or related litigation 

with the Department in which the 

member has a direct or indirect 

financial interest. This includes the 

requirement for Committee or 

Subcommittee members to immediately 

disclose to the Designated Federal 

Officer (DFO) any specific party matter 

in which the member’s immediate 

family, relatives, business partners or 

employer would be directly seeking to 

financially benefit from the Committee’s 

recommendations. 

All members will receive ethics 

training to identify and avoid any 

actions that would cause the public to 

question the integrity of the 

Committee’s advice and 

recommendations. Members who are 

appointed as ‘‘Representatives’’ are not 

subject to Federal ethics laws because 

such appointment allows them to 

represent the point(s) of view of a 

particular group, business sector or 

segment of the public. 

Members appointed as ‘‘Special 

Government Employees’’ (SGEs) are 

considered intermittent Federal 

employees and are subject to Federal 

ethics laws. SGEs are appointed due to 

their personal knowledge, academic 

scholarship, background or expertise. 

No SGE may participate in any activity 

in which the member has a prohibited 

financial interest. Appointees who are 

SGEs are required to complete and 

submit a Confidential Financial 

Disclosure Report (OGE–450 form) and, 

upon request, USDA will assist SGEs in 

preparing these financial reports. To 

ensure the highest level of compliance 

with applicable ethical standards USDA 

will provide ethics training to SGEs on 

an annual basis. The provisions of these 

paragraphs are not meant to 

exhaustively cover all Federal ethics 

laws and do not affect any other 

statutory or regulatory obligations to 

which advisory committee members are 

subject. 

Recordkeeping: The records of this 

Committee, formally and informally 

established subcommittees, or other 

subgroups of the committee, shall be 

handled in accordance with General 

Records Schedule (GRS) 6.2 or other 

approved agency records disposition 

schedule. These records shall be 

available for public inspection and 

copying, subject to the Freedom of 

Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552. 

Information about this Committee is 

available online at: USDA—National 

Agricultural Statistics Service—About 

NASS—Advisory Committee on 

Agriculture Statistics 

Dated: August 21, 2024. 

Cikena Reid, Committee Management Officer, 

USDA. 

[FR Doc. 2024–20408 Filed 9–9–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–20–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

Notice of Intent To Request Revision 

and Extension of a Currently Approved 

Information Collection 

AGENCY: National Agricultural Statistics 

Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 

notice announces the intention of the 

National Agricultural Statistics Service 

(NASS) to request revision and 

extension of a currently approved 

information collection, the Generic 

Clearance for Survey Research Studies. 

There are minimal changes to burden 

hours and number of contacts to 

accommodate the proposed testing for 

the upcoming three-year period. 

DATES: Comments on this notice must be 

received by November 12, 2024 to be 

assured of consideration. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by docket number 0535–0248, 

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 CDROM submissions to: Richard Hopper, 

NASS Clearance Officer, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Room 5336 

South Building, 1400 Independence 


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73356 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 175 / Tuesday, September 10, 2024 / Notices 

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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Joseph J. Prusacki, Acting Associate 

Administrator, National Agricultural 

Statistics Service, U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, (202) 720–2707. Copies of 

this information collection and related 

instructions can be obtained without 

charge from Richard Hopper, NASS– 

OMB Clearance Officer, at (202) 720– 

2206 or at ombofficer@nass.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: 

Generic Clearance to Conduct Survey 

Research Studies. 

OMB Control Number: 0535–0248. 

Type of Request: To revise and extend 

a currently approved information 

collection for a period of three years. 

Abstract: The National Agricultural 

Statistics Service (NASS) of the United 

States Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) will request approval from the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for a generic clearance that will 

allow NASS to rigorously develop, test, 

and evaluate its survey instruments and 

methodologies. The primary objectives 

of the National Agricultural Statistics 

Service are to prepare and issue State 

and national estimates of crop 

production, livestock production, 

economic statistics, and environmental 

statistics related to agriculture and to 

conduct the Census of Agriculture. This 

request is part of an on-going initiative 

to improve NASS surveys, as 

recommended by both its own 

guidelines and those of OMB. 

In the last decade, rigorously 

researched techniques have been 

increasingly instituted by NASS and 

other Federal agencies and are now 

routinely used to improve the quality 

and timeliness of survey data and 

analyses, while simultaneously 

reducing respondents’ cognitive 

workload and burden. The purpose of 

this generic clearance is to allow NASS 

to continue to adopt and use these 

rigorously researched techniques to 

improve its current data collections 

efforts. These tests will also be used to 

aid in the development of new surveys. 

NASS envisions using a variety of 

survey improvement techniques, as 

appropriate to the individual project 

under investigation. These include 

focus groups, cognitive and usability 

laboratory and field techniques, 

exploratory interviews, behavior coding, 

respondent debriefing, pilot surveys, 

and split-panel tests. After obtaining 

participants’ permission, NASS plans to 

audio-record some cognitive interviews 

and usability interviews, in order to 

allow for more complete and accurate 

summaries of these qualitative 

interviews. This is a standard procedure 

for cognitive interviews and usability 

interviews at many other survey 

organizations, including Federal 

agencies. The consent form would be 

used for audio recording some cognitive 

interviews and usability interviews for 

research purposes. For these types of 

interviews, there will be no collection of 

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) 

or any identifying information about the 

operator or operation. 

In addition to the testing techniques 

listed above NASS will be including 

parallel testing with this renewal 

request. NASS is investigating 

methodologies using additional sources 

of farm operators (including web 

scraping). These methodologies will be 

tested against the NASS’s current multiframe methodology. 

Following standard OMB 

requirements NASS will submit a 

change request to OMB individually for 

each survey improvement project it 

undertakes under this generic clearance 

and provide OMB with a copy of the 

questionnaire (if one is used), and all 

other materials describing the project. 

Authority: These data will be 

collected under the authority of 7 U.S.C. 

2204(a). Individually identifiable data 

collected under this authority are 

governed by Section 1770 of the Food 

Security Act of 1985, 7 U.S.C. 2276, 

which requires USDA to afford strict 

confidentiality to non-aggregated data 

provided by respondents. This Notice is 

submitted in accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. 

L. 104–13) and Office of Management 

and Budget regulations at 5 CFR part 

1320. Participation in all surveys and 

studies conducted under this approval 

will be voluntary. 

All NASS employees and NASS 

contractors must also fully comply with 

all provisions of the Confidential 

Information Protection and Statistical 

Efficiency Act (CIPSEA) of 2018, title III 

of Public Law 115–435, codified in 44 

U.S.C. ch. 35. CIPSEA supports NASS’s 

pledge of confidentiality to all 

respondents and facilitates the agency’s 

efforts to reduce burden by supporting 

statistical activities of collaborative 

agencies through designation of NASS 

agents, subject to the limitations and 

penalties described in CIPSEA. NASS 

uses the information only for statistical 

purposes and publishes only tabulated 

total data. 

Estimate of Burden: Public reporting 

burden for these collections of 

information is estimated to average from 

15 minutes to 1.5 hours per respondent, 

dependent upon the survey and the 

technique used to test for that particular 

survey. The overall average is estimated 

to be 0.60 hours per response. 

Respondents: Farmers, ranchers, farm 

managers, farm contractors, agribusinesses, and households. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

25,000. 

Frequency of Responses: On occasion. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 

15,000 hours. 

Comments: 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 will 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 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, through 

the use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, technological or 

other forms of information technology 

collection methods. 

All responses to this notice will 

become a matter of public record and be 

summarized in the request for OMB 

approval. 

Signed at Washington, DC, August 6, 2024. 

Joseph J. Prusacki, 

Acting Associate Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2024–20403 Filed 9–9–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–20–P 


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