This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

44257 

Vol. 86, No. 153 

Thursday, August 12, 2021 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 932 

[Doc. No. AMS–SC–20–0102; SC21–932–1 

FR] 

Olives Grown in California; Increased 

Assessment Rate 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This final rule implements a 

recommendation from the California 

Olive Committee to increase the 

assessment rate for the 2021 fiscal year. 

The assessment rate will remain in 

effect indefinitely unless modified, 

suspended, or terminated. 

DATES: Effective September 13, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bianca Bertrand, Management and 

Program Analyst, or Gary D. Olson, 

Regional Director, California Marketing 

Field Office, Marketing Order and 

Agreement Division, Specialty Crops 

Program, AMS, USDA; Telephone: (559) 

356–8202 or email: BiancaM.Bertrand@

usda.gov or GaryD.Olson@usda.gov. 

Small businesses may request 

information on complying with this 

regulation by contacting Richard Lower, 

Marketing Order and Agreement 

Division, Specialty Crops Program, 

AMS, USDA, 1400 Independence 

Avenue SW, STOP 0237, Washington, 

DC 20250–0237; Telephone: (202) 720– 

2491, or email: Richard.Lower@

usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

action, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553, 

implements an amendment to 

regulations issued to carry out a 

marketing order as defined in 7 CFR 

900.2(j). This rule is issued under 

Marketing Agreement and Order No. 

932, as amended (7 CFR part 932), 

regulating the handling of olives grown 

in California. Part 932 (referred to as the 

‘‘Order’’) is effective under the 

Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act 

of 1937, as amended (7 U.S.C. 601–674), 

hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Act.’’ The 

California Olive Committee (Committee) 

locally administers the Order and is 

comprised of producers and handlers of 

olives operating within the production 

area. 

The Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) is issuing this rule in 

conformance with Executive Orders 

12866 and 13563. Executive Orders 

12866 and 13563 direct agencies to 

assess all costs and benefits of available 

regulatory alternatives and, if regulation 

is necessary, to select regulatory 

approaches that maximize net benefits 

(including potential economic, 

environmental, public health and safety 

effects, distributive impacts and equity). 

Executive Order 13563 emphasizes the 

importance of quantifying both costs 

and benefits, reducing costs, 

harmonizing rules, and promoting 

flexibility. This action falls within a 

category of regulatory actions that the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) exempted from Executive Order 

12866 review. 

This rule has been reviewed under 

Executive Order 13175—Consultation 

and Coordination with Indian Tribal 

Governments, which requires agencies 

to consider whether their rulemaking 

actions would have tribal implications. 

AMS has determined this rule is 

unlikely to have substantial direct 

effects on one or more Indian tribes, on 

the relationship between the Federal 

Government and Indian tribes, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities between the Federal 

Government and Indian tribes. 

This rule has been reviewed under 

Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice 

Reform. Under the Order now in effect, 

California olive handlers are subject to 

assessments. Funds to administer the 

Order are derived from such 

assessments. It is intended that the 

assessment rate be applicable to all 

assessable olives for the 2021 fiscal year 

and continue until amended, 

suspended, or terminated. 

The Act provides that administrative 

proceedings must be exhausted before 

parties may file suit in court. Under 

section 608c(15)(A) of the Act, any 

handler subject to an order may file 

with USDA a petition stating that the 

order, any provision of the order, or any 

obligation imposed in connection with 

the order is not in accordance with law 

and request a modification of the order 

or to be exempted therefrom. Such a 

handler is afforded the opportunity for 

a hearing on the petition. After the 

hearing, USDA would rule on the 

petition. The Act provides that the 

district court of the United States in any 

district in which the handler is an 

inhabitant, or has his or her principal 

place of business, has jurisdiction to 

review USDA’s ruling on the petition, 

provided an action is filed not later than 

20 days after the date of the entry of the 

ruling. 

This rule increases the current 

assessment rate from $15.00 per ton of 

assessable olives to $30.00 per ton of 

assessable olives for the 2021 fiscal year 

and subsequent fiscal years. The 

marketing year runs August 1 through 

July 31. 

The Order authorizes the Committee, 

with the approval of USDA, to formulate 

an annual budget of expenses and 

collect assessments from handlers to 

administer the program. Members are 

familiar with the Committee’s needs and 

with the costs of goods and services in 

their local area and are thus able to 

formulate an appropriate budget and 

assessment rate. The assessment rate is 

formulated and discussed in a public 

meeting and all directly affected persons 

have an opportunity to participate and 

provide input. 

For the 2020 fiscal year and 

subsequent fiscal years, the Committee 

recommended, and USDA approved, an 

assessment rate of $15.00 per ton of 

assessable olives. That assessment rate 

will continue in effect until modified, 

suspended, or terminated by USDA 

upon recommendation and information 

submitted by the Committee, or other 

information available to USDA. 

The Committee met on December 8, 

2020, and unanimously recommended 

expenditures of $1,151,832 and an 

assessment rate of $30.00 per ton of 

assessable olives handled for the 2021 

fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years. 

In comparison, last year’s budgeted 

expenditures were $1,035,406. The 

assessment rate of $30.00 is $15.00 

higher than the rate currently in effect. 

Handlers received 23,193 tons of 

assessable olives for the 2020 crop year. 

This is substantially less than the 

volume for the 2019 crop year, which 

was 81,689 tons of assessable olives. 


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44258 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 153 / Thursday, August 12, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 

The Committee recommended 

increasing the assessment rate due to 

the smaller crop. The assessment rate 

and funds from the Committee’s 

authorized financial reserve is expected 

to cover the Committee’s budgeted 

expenses for the 2021 fiscal year. Funds 

in the reserve are expected to remain 

within the maximum permitted by the 

Order. 

The Order has both a fiscal year and 

a crop year that are independent of each 

other. The crop year is a 12-month 

period that begins on August 1 of each 

year and ends on July 31 of the 

following year. The fiscal year is the 12- 

month period that begins on January 1 

and ends on December 31 of each year. 

Actual crop year receipts, along with 

the proposed budget, are used to 

determine the assessment rate for the 

following fiscal year. Olives are an 

alternate-bearing crop, with a small crop 

followed by a large crop. Therefore, the 

Committee expects fluctuations in the 

assessment rate. 

Major expenditures recommended by 

the Committee for the 2021 fiscal year 

include $531,300 for general 

administration expenses, $334,532 for 

research, $238,000 for marketing 

expenses, and $48,000 for inspection 

expenses. Budgeted expenses for these 

items for the 2020 fiscal year were 

$631,300, $225,606, $123,500, and 

$55,000, respectively. 

The Committee derived the 

recommended assessment rate by 

considering anticipated fiscal year 

expenses, actual olive tonnage received 

by handlers during the 2020 crop year, 

and the amount of funds available in the 

authorized reserve. Income derived from 

handler assessments, calculated at 

$695,790 (23,193 tons assessable olives 

multiplied by $30.00 assessment rate), 

along with funds from the Committee’s 

authorized reserve of $456,042, will be 

adequate to cover budgeted expenses of 

$1,151,832 for the 2021 fiscal year. 

The assessment rate established in 

this rule will continue in effect 

indefinitely unless modified, 

suspended, or terminated by USDA 

upon recommendation and information 

submitted by the Committee or other 

available information. 

Although this assessment rate will be 

in effect for an indefinite period, the 

Committee will continue to meet prior 

to or during each fiscal year to 

recommend a budget of expenses and 

consider recommendations for 

modification of the assessment rate. 

Dates and times of Committee meetings 

are available from the Committee or 

USDA. Committee meetings are open to 

the public and interested persons may 

express their views at these meetings. 

USDA will evaluate Committee 

recommendations and other available 

information to determine whether 

modification of the assessment rate is 

needed. Further rulemaking would be 

undertaken as necessary. The 

Committee’s 2021 fiscal year budget, 

and those for subsequent fiscal years, 

will be reviewed and, as appropriate, 

approved by USDA. 

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis 

Pursuant to requirements set forth in 

the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) (5 

U.S.C. 601–612), the Agricultural 

Marketing Service (AMS) has 

considered the economic impact of this 

rule on small entities. Accordingly, 

AMS has prepared this final regulatory 

flexibility analysis. 

The purpose of the RFA is to fit 

regulatory actions to the scale of 

businesses subject to such actions in 

order that small businesses will not be 

unduly or disproportionately burdened. 

Marketing orders issued pursuant to the 

Act, and the rules issued thereunder, are 

unique in that they are brought about 

through group action of essentially 

small entities acting on their own 

behalf. 

There are approximately 800 

producers of olives in the production 

area and 2 handlers subject to regulation 

under the Order. Small agricultural 

producers are defined by the Small 

Business Administration (SBA) as those 

having annual receipts of less than 

$1,000,000, and small agricultural 

service firms have been defined as those 

whose annual receipts are less than 

$30,000,000 (13 CFR 121.201). 

According to the National 

Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), 

the national average producer price for 

olives for the 2020 crop year was 

$791.00 per ton, and total assessable 

volume for the 2020 crop year was 

23,193 tons. The total 2020 value of the 

olive crop was $18,345,663 (23,193 tons 

times $791.00 per ton). Dividing the 

crop value by the estimated number of 

producers (800) yields an estimated 

average receipt per producer of $22,932. 

Thus, the majority of olive producers 

may be classified as small agricultural 

producers. 

Based on information from the 

Committee regarding the volume 

handled by each handler, neither 

handler can be classified as a small 

agricultural service firm. Both handlers 

may be classified as large entities under 

the SBA’s definition because their 

annual receipts are greater than 

$30,000,000. 

As noted above, the average price 

received per ton by producers in the 

preceding crop year was $791.00 per ton 

of assessable olives. Given the total crop 

received by handlers of 23,193 tons, the 

total producer revenue is expected to be 

$18,345,663. The total assessment 

revenue is expected to be $695,790 

(23,193 tons times $30.00 per ton). 

Thus, the total assessment revenue 

compared to total producer revenue is 

0.038 percent. 

This rule increases the assessment 

rate collected from handlers for the 2021 

fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years 

from $15.00 to $30.00 per ton of 

assessable olives. The Committee 

unanimously recommended 2021 

expenditures of $1,151,832 and an 

assessment rate of $30.00 per ton of 

assessable olives. The assessment rate of 

$30.00 per ton of assessable olives is 

$15.00 higher than the current rate. The 

volume of assessable olives from the 

2020 crop year is estimated to be 23,193 

tons. Thus, the $30.00 per ton 

assessment rate should provide 

$695,790 in assessment income (23,193 

tons assessable olives multiplied by 

$30.00 assessment rate). Income derived 

from handler assessments, along with 

funds from the Committee’s authorized 

reserve, should be adequate to cover 

budgeted expenses for the 2021 fiscal 

year. 

Major expenditures recommended by 

the Committee for the 2021 fiscal year 

include $531,300 for general 

administration expenses, $334,532 for 

research, $238,000 for marketing 

expenses, and $48,000 for inspection 

expenses. Budgeted expenses for these 

items in the 2020 fiscal year were 

$631,300, $225,606, $123,500, and 

$55,000, respectively. 

The Committee recommended 

increasing the assessment rate to 

provide adequate income to cover the 

Committee’s budgeted expenses for the 

2021 fiscal year while maintaining its 

financial reserve within the 

requirements of the Order. 

Prior to arriving at this budget and 

assessment rate recommendation, the 

Committee received information from 

its Executive, Marketing, and Research 

subcommittees. At each subcommittee 

meeting, the members discussed various 

alternatives to both the assessment rate 

and programs under their purview. 

Subcommittees deliberated alternatives 

relative to their needs and the costs of 

the programs they oversee. The 

Research subcommittee, for example, 

discussed production research 

proposals, their relative values, whether 

costs associated with each project was 

appropriate, whether the project was 

appropriate in scale, and whether the 

project met industry’s needs. These 

types of deliberations are part of the 

annual discussion held by each 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 153 / Thursday, August 12, 2021 / Rules and Regulations 44259 

subcommittee. Subcommittees then 

report their conclusions and 

recommendations to the Committee. 

Given all the information available to 

the Committee and its own 

deliberations, the Committee made a 

recommendation to USDA on the 

assessment rate and the proposed 

budget. 

This rule increases the assessment 

obligation imposed on handlers. 

Assessments are applied uniformly on 

all handlers, and some portion of 

assessments may be passed on to 

producers. However, these costs are 

expected to be offset by benefits derived 

by the operation of the Order. 

Various subcommittees’ meetings and 

the Committee’s meeting were widely 

publicized throughout the California 

olive industry. All interested persons 

were invited to attend meetings and 

encouraged to participate in 

deliberations. Like all meetings, 

subcommittee meetings held on 

November 5, 2020 and the full 

Committee meeting held on December 8, 

2020, were public meetings and all 

entities, both large and small scale, were 

able to express views on this issue. 

Finally, interested persons were invited 

to submit comments on this rule, 

including regulatory and information 

collection impacts of this action on 

small businesses. 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35), the Order’s information 

collection requirements have been 

previously approved by the OMB and 

assigned OMB No. 0581–0178, 

Vegetable and Specialty Crops. No 

changes in those requirements are 

necessary as a result of this rule. Should 

any changes become necessary, they 

would be submitted to OMB for 

approval. 

This rule will not impose any 

additional reporting or recordkeeping 

requirements on either small- or largescale California olive handlers. As with 

all Federal marketing order programs, 

reports and forms are periodically 

reviewed to reduce information 

requirements and duplication by 

industry and public sector agencies. 

USDA has not identified any relevant 

Federal rules that duplicate, overlap, or 

conflict with this final rule. 

AMS is committed to complying with 

the E-Government Act, to promote the 

use of the internet and other 

information technologies to provide 

increased opportunities for citizen 

access to Government information and 

services, and for other purposes. 

A proposed rule concerning this 

action was published in the Federal 

Register on April 8, 2021 (86 FR 18216). 

Copies of the proposal were provided by 

the Committee to members and 

handlers. Finally, the proposed rule was 

made available through the internet by 

USDA and the Office of the Federal 

Register. A 45-day comment period 

ending May 24, 2021, was provided to 

allow interested persons to respond to 

the proposal. No comments were 

received. Accordingly, no changes were 

made to the rule proposed. 

A small business guide on complying 

with fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop 

marketing agreements and orders may 

be viewed at: https://

www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/ 

moa/small-businesses. Any questions 

about the compliance guide should be 

sent to Richard Lower at the previously 

mentioned address in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section. 

After consideration of all relevant 

material presented, including the 

information and recommendation 

submitted by the Committee and other 

available information, it is hereby found 

that this rule will tend to effectuate the 

declared policy of the Act. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 932 

Marketing agreements, Olives, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, 7 CFR part 932 is amended as 

follows: 

PART 932—OLIVES GROWN IN 

CALIFORNIA 

■ 1. The authority citation for 7 CFR 

part 932 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601–674. 

■ 2. Section 932.230 is revised to read 

as follows: 

§ 932.230 Assessment rate. 

On and after January 1, 2021, an 

assessment rate of $30.00 per ton is 

established for California olives. 

Erin Morris, 

Associate Administrator, Agricultural 

Marketing Service. 

[FR Doc. 2021–17237 Filed 8–11–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 993 

[Doc. No. AMS–SC–20–0104; SC21–993–1 

FR] 

Dried Prunes Produced in California; 

Increased Assessment Rate 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This rule implements a 

recommendation from the Prune 

Marketing Committee to increase the 

assessment rate established for the 

2020–21 and subsequent crop years. The 

assessment rate will remain in effect 

indefinitely unless modified, 

suspended, or terminated. 

DATES: Effective September 13, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bianca Bertrand, Management and 

Program Analyst, or Gary D. Olson, 

Acting Regional Director, California 

Marketing Field Office, Marketing Order 

and Agreement Division, Specialty 

Crops Program, AMS, USDA; 

Telephone: (559) 487–5901 or email: 

BiancaM.Bertrand@usda.gov or 

GaryD.Olson@usda.gov. Small 

businesses may request information on 

complying with this regulation by 

contacting Richard Lower, Marketing 

Order and Agreement Division, 

Specialty Crops Program, AMS, USDA, 

1400 Independence Avenue SW, STOP 

0237, Washington, DC 20250–0237; 

Telephone: (202) 720–2491, or Email: 

Richard.Lower@usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

action, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553, 

amends regulations issued to carry out 

a marketing order as defined in 7 CFR 

900.2(j). This final rule is issued under 

Marketing Agreement and Order No. 

993, as amended (7 CFR part 993), 

regulating the handling of dried prunes 

produced in California. Part 993 

(referred to as the ‘‘Order’’) is effective 

under the Agricultural Marketing 

Agreement Act of 1937, as amended (7 

U.S.C. 601–674), hereinafter referred to 

as the ‘‘Act.’’ The Prune Marketing 

Committee (Committee) locally 

administers the Order and is comprised 

of producers and handlers of dried 

prunes operating within the production 

area, and a public member. The crop 

year for this Order runs from August 1 

to July 31. 

The Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) is issuing this final rule in 

conformance with Executive Orders 

12866 and 13563. Executive Orders 


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