United States 

Department of 

Agriculture

Animal and 

Plant Health 

Inspection 

Service

October 2011

Analysis in Support of Certification that the 

Rule will not have a Significant Economic 

Impact on a Substantial Number of Small 

Entities

Interim Rule 

2011-0074

Karnal Bunt – Removal of Regulated Areas in 

California

Policy & Program Development

Policy Analysis & Development
1

Summary

This rule removes areas in the County of Riverside, California, from Karnal bunt (KB) 

quarantine; as a result, the State of California will be KB-free. KB-regulated areas in the United 

States will be reduced by 17,827 acres, and quarantine restrictions for affected wheat farms and 

related providers of agricultural services in Riverside County will end.

There were 17 wheat farms in Riverside County in 2007, most if not all of them small 

entities according to the Small Business Administration standard. Most if not all providers of 

agricultural services for these wheat farms are also small. The effects of the rule will be positive 

for these entities, but not significant. The quarantine restrictions that have been in place did not 

result in significant costs, and removal of the restrictions similarly will not yield significant 

benefits.

The additional amount of wheat available for domestic use and for export that can be 

certified as grown in KB-free areas because of this action will be very small. Riverside County’s 

durum wheat production, 2008-2010, averaged less than 0.3 percent of U.S. total production, and 

the county’s hard winter wheat production, less than 0.1 percent of the total. Under these 

circumstances, the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has 

determined that this action, if promulgated, will not have a significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities.
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Introduction 

This analysis provides the basis, as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act, for 

certification by the APHIS Administrator that the interim rule, if promulgated, will not have a 

significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. Karnal bunt (KB) is a 

fungal disease of wheat, durum wheat, and triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye) that seldom 

results in significant yield losses in the field. However, KB affects flour quality if more than 3 

percent of the grain is bunted because it produces trimethylamine, which gives off a fishy odor. 

Pasta products made with flour contaminated with KB also can have an unacceptable color. 

Many U.S. trading partners will not accept U.S. wheat exports unless the wheat is certified to be 

from areas where KB is not known to occur.

In March 1996, KB was detected for the first time in the United States in Arizona.

Immediately after the discovery, a Federal quarantine was imposed and emergency actions were

taken to prevent the spread of the disease to other wheat-producing areas in the United States.

Since then, the domestic quarantine has been modified both in terms of its physical boundaries 

and restrictions on the production and movement of regulated articles. With this rule, there will 

be no remaining KB quarantine areas in California, and the nation’s KB-regulated areas will be 

reduced by 17,827 acres. 

Potential Impact on Small Entities

The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires that agencies consider the economic effects of 

their rules on small businesses, organizations, and governmental jurisdictions. The entities 

affected by this interim rule are wheat producers whose fields are in areas in Riverside County, 

California, that will be removed from the list of regulated areas and who plan to continue to grow 

wheat as well as providers of agricultural services to these producers.
3

In 2007, there were 17 wheat farms in Riverside County that had combined annual 

receipts of $1,720,000, or average receipts of about $101,000 per farm.

1

 Most if not all of these

wheat farms are considered to be small, based on the Small Business Administration (SBA) 

small-entity size standard for wheat farms (North American Industry Classification System

category 111140) of annual receipts of not more than $750,000.

Other entities that may be affected by this rule include ones that provide services to 

wheat farmers in support of agricultural activities, such as soil preparation, planting, and 

cultivating (NAICS 115112), harvesting (NAICS 115113), and postharvest activities (NAICS 

115114). These providers of agricultural services are considered small by SBA standards if their

annual receipts are not more than $7.0 million. We expect that many if not all of the providers of 

agricultural services to wheat farmers in Riverside County are small entities, although we have 

not been able to acquire information to verify this supposition.

The removal of areas in Riverside County from KB quarantine will benefit these entities,

irrespective of their size; they will be able to move regulated articles from these areas without 

restriction. KB quarantine regulations require that all conveyances, mechanized harvesting 

equipment, seed conditioning equipment, grain elevators, and structures used for storing and 

handling wheat, durum wheat, or triticale be cleaned by removing all soil and plant debris.

Disinfection may be required by an inspector in addition to cleaning.

With respect to the wheat grown within a KB-quarantined area, a grain sample must be 

drawn by an APHIS inspector or designated State official during harvest—or, if the crop is 

already harvested, from the storage bins—and examined for bunted kernels. If the sample is 

taken from the wheat as it is being harvested and no bunted kernels are found, a certificate may

 

1 USDA NASS, 2007 Census of Agriculture.
4

then be issued and the grain allowed to be transported to any market. A permit may be issued if 

the grain sample is from grain already in storage and no bunted kernels are found. If one or more

bunted kernels are found in the sample, then a notice is issued and the grain sealed in the storage 

facility prior to approved treatment or disposal. These inspection and movement requirements 

will no longer be required of wheat producers and service providers in the deregulated areas in 

Riverside County. 

Data from the 2007 Census of Agriculture allow us to further consider the relative 

prevalence of certain categories of wheat farms in Riverside County, California. These 

operations are small family farms and farms for which one or more of the operators belong to 

specified socially disadvantaged groups.2 A farm is reported as operated by a member of a 

socially disadvantaged group if the principal operator is a woman or if any of the top-three 

operators belongs to one of the ethnic or racial categories indicated in footnote 2.

Of the 17 wheat farms in Riverside County, one had a female person as its principal 

operator and another had a person of a Hispanic origin as one of its principal operators in 2007. 

The data indicate that about 12 percent (2 out of 17) of the wheat farms in Riverside County had 

operators who belong to socially disadvantaged groups. Reportedly, there were no small family

farms in Riverside County harvesting wheat.

Durum wheat and hard winter wheat are produced in Riverside County. Durum wheat is

used exclusively in producing flour for pasta and hard winter wheat is used in the production of

 

2 USDA, ERS. Structure and Finances of U.S. Family Farms: Family Farm Report, 2007 edition, EIB-24.

Any farm where the operator and persons related to the operator own a majority of the business is considered a 

family farm. Small family farms have annual gross sales of less than $250,000. Socially disadvantaged operators

are members of groups that historically have been subjected to bias and prejudice. The categories are women; 

persons of Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino origin; American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African 

American; and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. These farm operators, themselves, may not have 

experienced bias or prejudice, but identify with one or more of these gender, ethnic, and racial groups.
5

flour for baked goods. Both pasta and baked goods require wheat that is of high quality and high 

in protein content.

About half of U.S. wheat production is exported. The two main countries importing

durum and hard winter wheat from the United States are Nigeria and Italy. Nigeria is the larger

importer of the two and does not require certified KB-free wheat. Italy imports only APHIS 

certified KB-free wheat.

Wheat produced in Riverside County comprises a very small share of the nation’s total 

production. The Riverside County farms produced annually, between 2008 and 2010, on average

around 250,000 bushels of durum wheat (compared to U.S. durum wheat production during the 

same time period of 107 million bushels) and less than 1 million bushels of hard winter wheat

(compared to U.S. production of 1.08 billion bushels) (table 1). During this period, the United 

States exported an annual average of 616 million bushels of hard winter wheat and 43 million 

bushels of durum wheat.

3

The effects of the rule will be positive for wheat farmers in Riverside County and entities 

that provide agricultural support services to them, but they will not be significant. The 

quarantine restrictions that have been in place did not result in significant costs for the affected 

entities, and removal of the restrictions similarly will not yield significant benefits. The

additional amount of wheat available for domestic use and for export that can be certified as 

grown in KB-free areas will be very small. Riverside County’s durum wheat production, 2008-

2010, averaged less than 0.3 percent of U.S. total production, and the county’s hard winter wheat 

production, less than 0.1 percent of the total. Under these circumstances, the Administrator of 

 

3 USDA, ERS, Data Sets, Wheat classes: Supply and Disappearance, September 21, 2011; and USDA, World 

Agricultural Outlook Board, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates and supporting materials.
6

the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has determined that this action, if promulgated,

will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Table 1: Average annual production and export of durum wheat and hard winter wheat, 2008-2010

Riverside County, CA United States

Production of durum wheat 249,000 bushels 107,000,000 bushels

Production of hard winter wheat 995,000 bushels 1,080,000,000 bushels

Exports of durum wheat NA 43,000,000 bushels

Exports of hard winter wheat NA 616,000,000 bushels

NA: Not available data; Source: US Census; USDA, ERS: Data Sets, Wheat classes: Supply and 

Disappearance, September 21, 2011; and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.