Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 108 / Thursday, June 5, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 32435 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Commodity Credit Corporation 

7 CFR Part 1410 

Continuation of Conservation Reserve 

Program, Including Transition 

Incentives Program 

AGENCY: Commodity Credit Corporation 

and Farm Service Agency, USDA. 

ACTION: Extension of authorization. 

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Act of 2014 

(the 2014 Farm Bill) extends the 

authorization of the Conservation 

Reserve Program (CRP), a Commodity 

Credit Corporation (CCC) program 

administered by the Farm Service 

Agency (FSA), through September 30, 

2018. This document announces to 

producers the continuation of CRP 

Continuous sign-up, with revised 

cropping history requirements as 

specified in the 2014 Farm Bill. This 

document also announces the 

opportunity for producers of certain 

CRP contracts to terminate the contract 

early (referred to as ‘‘early-outs’’). The 

2014 Farm Bill also continues, with 

modifications, the CRP Transition 

Incentives Program (TIP). In this 

document FSA also announces an 

opportunity for participants to extend 

eligible CRP contracts currently 

scheduled to expire on September 30, 

2014, for one additional year. CRP, 

including TIP, will continue to be 

implemented under the existing 

regulations, except as specified in this 

document; this document will be 

followed by amendments to the 

applicable regulations to implement 

changes required by the 2014 Farm Bill 

after the completion of the appropriate 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) analysis. 

DATES: Effective Date: June 5, 2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Beverly J. Preston; telephone: (202) 720– 

9563. Persons with disabilities who 

require alternative means for 

communication (Braille, large print, 

audiotape, etc.) should contact the 

USDA Target Center at (202) 720–2600 

(voice and TDD). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Overview 

The 2014 Farm Bill (Pub. L. 113–79) 

authorizes the continuation of CRP, 

including TIP. In general, FSA will 

continue to implement CRP Continuous 

sign-up and TIP under the provisions of 

existing regulations, but this 

implementation will also include 

changes to the program required by the 

2014 Farm Bill, such as a change in the 

cropping history required for eligibility. 

FSA, using its discretionary authority, 

will offer the opportunity for 1-year 

extensions to producers for certain 

existing contracts; FSA will also, as 

required by the 2014 Farm Bill, allow 

early outs for certain existing contracts. 

The 2014 Farm Bill reauthorized CRP 

through September 30, 2018. 

FSA is completing the appropriate 

NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321–4347) analysis. 

FSA will update regulations, software, 

forms, and handbooks to implement all 

the changes required by the 2014 Farm 

Bill. FSA is also updating CRP Fact 

Sheets and will conduct extensive 

outreach to ensure that producers are 

aware of sign-up periods and 

application requirements. Details of 

sign-up periods and additional changes 

to CRP will be announced in separate 

press releases. 

CRP Continuous Sign-up 

As specified in the 2014 Farm Bill 

and in the existing regulations, FSA 

offers CRP continuous sign-up for 

environmentally sensitive land that is 

devoted to high priority conservation 

practices. Continuous sign-up will 

continue as specified in the existing 

regulations in 7 CFR part 1410, but will 

reflect a change to the cropping history 

requirement as specified in the 2014 

Farm Bill. 

In general, for cropland to be eligible 

for enrollment in CRP a cropping 

history for such cropland is required. 

The 2014 Farm Bill requires that to be 

eligible for enrollment in CRP, cropland 

must have a cropping history or 

otherwise be considered planted for 4 of 

the 6 years preceding February 7, 2014, 

the date of enactment of the 2014 Farm 

Bill. Therefore, beginning June 5, 2014, 

for cropland to be eligible for CRP 

continuous sign-up, the cropland must 

have a cropping history, or be 

considered to have been planted, for at 

least 4 years during 2008 through 2013. 

TIP 

TIP provides financial incentives for 

retired or retiring owners or operators to 

transition land enrolled in CRP to 

beginning or socially disadvantaged 

farmers or ranchers for the purpose of 

returning some or all of the land into 

production, using sustainable grazing or 

crop production methods in compliance 

with the required conservation plan. If 

approved for TIP, the retired or retiring 

owner or operator will receive CRP 

payments for an additional 2 years after 

the CRP contract expires. 

The 2014 Farm Bill reauthorized TIP 

with minor administrative changes. 

Specifically, the 2014 Farm Bill now 

allows the retired or retiring owner or 

operator who transfers the land to a 

veteran farmer or rancher to be eligible 

for TIP. Section 2006(b) of the 2014 

Farm Bill refers to the definition of 

‘‘veteran farmer or rancher’’ in 7 U.S.C. 

2279(e): A farmer or rancher who has 

served in the Armed Forces, as defined 

in 38 U.S.C. 101(10), and who either has 

not operated a farm or ranch, or has 

operated a farm or ranch for not more 

than 10 years. This effectively means 

that to be eligible for TIP, the veteran 

farmer or rancher must also meet the 

existing definition of a beginning farmer 

or rancher (found in 7 CFR 1410.2). 

Consequently, this change does not 

increase the pool of eligible participants 

in TIP. 

The 2014 Farm Bill authorizes $33 

million total for fiscal years 2014 

through 2018 to carry out TIP. This was 

an increase from the $25 million 

authorized under the 2008 Farm Bill. 

CCC will restart TIP, subject to this 

funding limit, and begin an outreach 

effort about TIP to eligible veteran 

farmers and ranchers, as well as 

beginning and socially disadvantaged 

farmers and ranchers. 

CRP 1-Year Extension of Existing 

Contracts 

CRP contracts covering about 1.8 

million acres of general sign-up land are 

scheduled to expire on September 30, 

2014. No CRP general sign-up is 

scheduled for FY 2014. This document 

announces that FSA will provide an 

opportunity for a 1-year extension of 

CRP contracts scheduled to expire 

September 30, 2014, that were also 

originally enrolled under a previous 

CRP general sign-up and have a CRP 

contract length of 14 years or less. CRP 

participants may elect to extend the 

contract for all or a portion of the land 

enrolled under the expiring CRP 

contract. CRP participants that choose to 

extend CRP contracts for 1 year will be 

required to file a CRP contract 

modification to extend the contract 

expiration. All terms and conditions of 

current CRP contracts will apply to the 

contract extension. This 1-year 

extension opportunity will be available 

from June 5, 2014, through August 8, 

2014. This extension is discretionary 

and is not required by the 2014 Farm 

Bill. 

CRP Early-Outs for Certain Existing 

CRP Contracts 

Section 2006(a) of the 2014 Farm Bill 

requires the Secretary to offer producers 

the opportunity for early termination— 

‘‘early-outs’’—of certain CRP contracts 

during FY 2015, if those contracts have 

been in effect for at least 5 years. 

However, not all CRP contracts will be 


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32436 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 108 / Thursday, June 5, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

eligible for early-out even if they meet 

the 5 years requirement; the 2014 Farm 

Bill specifies that the following types of 

land will not be eligible for early-out: 

• Filterstrips, waterways, strips 

adjacent to riparian areas, windbreaks, 

and shelterbelts; 

• Land with an erodibility index of 

more than 15; 

• Land devoted to hardwood trees; 

• Wildlife habitat, duck nesting 

habitat, pollinator habitat, upland bird 

habitat buffer, wildlife food plots, State 

acres for wildlife enhancement, shallow 

water areas for wildlife, and rare and 

declining habitat; 

• Farmable wetland and restored 

wetland; 

• Land that contains diversions, 

erosion control structures, flood control 

structures, contour grass strips, living 

snow fences, salinity reducing 

vegetation, cross wind trap strips, and 

sediment retention structures; 

• Land located within a federally 

designated wellhead protection area; 

• Land that is covered by an easement 

under CRP; 

• Land located within an average 

width, according to the applicable 

Natural Resources Conservation Service 

field office technical guide, of a 

perennial stream or permanent water 

body; and 

• Land enrolled under the 

conservation reserve enhancement 

program. 

The producer may request the earlyout, and it will be effective upon 

approval by the FSA County Office 

Committee. The start and end dates for 

requesting the early-out will be 

determined by the Deputy 

Administrator for Farm Programs and 

will be announced later by a news 

release. 

The 2014 Farm Bill did not change 

the following provisions for prorated 

rental payment, renewed enrollment, 

conservation requirements, and liability 

for contract violation: 

If an early-out terminates a CRP 

contract before the end of the fiscal year 

for which a CRP rental payment is due, 

FSA will provide a prorated rental 

payment covering the portion of the 

fiscal year during which the CRP 

contract was in effect. 

An early-out will not affect the ability 

of the owner or operator that requested 

the early-out to submit a subsequent bid 

to enroll the land that was subject to the 

CRP contract into CRP. 

If the producer returns land that was 

subject to a CRP contract to production 

of an agricultural commodity, the 

conservation requirements for highly 

erodible land conservation and wetland 

conservation under 7 CFR part 12 and 

16 U.S.C. Chapter 58, subchapters II and 

III, will apply. 

The early-out does not relieve the 

producer of liability for a contract 

violation occurring before the date of 

the contract termination. 

Environmental Review 

FSA is currently analyzing 

discretionary changes to CRP authorized 

by the provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill 

by preparing a Supplemental 

Programmatic Environmental Impact 

Statement (SPEIS), as was announced in 

a separate notice in the Federal Register 

on November 29, 2013 (78 FR 71561– 

71562). However, FSA has determined, 

in accordance with 7 CFR 799.9(d), 

‘‘Ensuring That Environmental Factors 

are Considered in Agency 

Decisionmaking,’’ and 40 CFR parts 

1500–1508 (the NEPA implementing the 

regulations of the Council on 

Environmental Quality) that the 

continuation of continuous CRP, the 

restarting of CRP TIP, and a 1-year 

contract extension for certain expiring 

CRP contract holders consistent with 

the current implementing regulations, 

will not significantly affect the quality 

of the human environment. Therefore, 

no environmental assessment or 

environmental impact statement will be 

prepared on these specific program 

provisions as specified in this 

document. 

Signed on June 2, 2014. 

Juan M. Garcia, 

Executive Vice President, Commodity Credit 

Corporation, and Administrator, Farm 

Service Agency. 

[FR Doc. 2014–13085 Filed 6–4–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–05–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

9 CFR Part 310 

[Docket No. FSIS–2012–0038] 

Changes to Salmonella Verification 

Sampling Program: Analysis of Raw 

Beef for Shiga Toxin-Producing 

Escherichia coli and Salmonella 

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection 

Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Response to comments. 

SUMMARY: The Food Safety and 

Inspection Service (FSIS) is responding 

to comments on an August 28, 2013, 

Federal Register document, ‘‘Changes to 

Salmonella Verification Sampling 

Program: Analysis of Raw Beef for Shiga 

Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli and 

Salmonella’’ and announcing its plans 

to begin analyzing for Salmonella all 

beef product it analyzes for Shiga toxinproducing Escherichia coli (STEC). 

After reviewing the comments received 

on the August 2013 document, FSIS is 

affirming the plans for addressing 

Salmonella in raw beef products that it 

announced in that document and will 

proceed with implementing those plans. 

DATES: On June 29, 2014, FSIS will 

discontinue Salmonella sampling set 

procedures (‘‘HC01’’) in ground beef 

products, except in establishments with 

results that exceeded the standard for 

Salmonella in that establishment’s most 

recently completed set (i.e., in those 

establishments in Category 3). At the 

same time, FSIS will begin analyzing for 

Salmonella all raw beef samples it 

collects for STEC analysis and will 

increase the raw ground beef sample 

portion for Salmonella analysis from 25 

grams to 325 grams. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Rachel Edelstein, Assistant 

Administrator, Office of Policy and 

Program Development; Telephone: (202) 

205–0495, or by Fax: (202) 720–2025. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On August 28, 2013, FSIS published 

in the Federal Register a document 

announcing changes that it intended to 

make in its Salmonella sampling 

program for raw beef products (78 FR 

53017). The Agency requested comment 

on these changes, with the aim of 

assessing whether it should alter any of 

its plans on the basis of the information 

or data it received. 

FSIS announced that it would begin 

analyzing for Salmonella all samples of 

raw ground beef, beef manufacturing 

trimmings, bench trim, and other raw 

ground beef components that it collects 

for STEC testing, including raw ground 

beef products FSIS samples at retail 

stores and ground beef, trim, and other 

raw ground beef components FSIS 

samples at import establishments. FSIS 

also explained that when it begins 

analyzing for Salmonella the product 

collected for STEC analysis, the Agency 

will also begin analyzing for Salmonella 

the follow-up samples it collects in 

response to STEC positive results. FSIS 

further explained that it is not making 

any changes to the STEC sampling and 

testing programs at this time. 

FSIS announced that, once the ‘‘coanalysis’’ begins, it would increase the 

raw ground beef sample portion for 

Salmonella analysis from 25 grams to 

325 grams. FSIS explained that to 

support an increase in the sample size 

analyzed, FSIS evaluated the FSIS 


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