[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 98 (Friday, May 20, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30866-30867]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-10914]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Natural Resources Conservation Service

[Docket ID: NRCS-2022-0007]


Information Collection Requests; Urban Agriculture and Innovative 
Production (UAIP) Grant Program; Composting and Food Waste Reduction 
(CFWR) Cooperative Agreements

AGENCY: Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), United States 
Department of Agriculture (USDA).

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the NRCS is 
requesting comments from all interested individuals and organizations 
on two information collection requests associated with the UAIP Grant 
Program and the CFWR Cooperative Agreements, respectively.

DATES: We will consider comments that we receive by July 19, 2022.

ADDRESSES: NRCS prefers that the comments are submitted electronically 
through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. You may submit comments, 
identified by Docket ID No. NRCS-2022-0007, using any of the following 
methods:
    <bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRCS-2022-0007. Follow the 
online instructions for submitting comments.
    <bullet> Mail, Hand-Delivery, or Courier: Brian Guse, Room 4083-S 
NRCS, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Stop 1600, Washington, DC 
20250.
    In your comments, specify the docket ID NRCS-2022-0007. All 
comments received, including those received by mail, will be posted 
without change and will be publicly available on http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Guse; telephone: (202) 641-7249; 
email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f3868191929d9294819a90869f87868196b386809792dd949c85"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a3d6d1c1c2cdc2c4d1cac0d6cfd7d6d1c6e3d6d0c7c28dc4ccd5">[email protected]</span></a>. Persons with disabilities who require 
alternative means for communication should contact the USDA's TARGET 
Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice only) or (844) 433-2774 (toll-free 
nationwide).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (UAIP).
    OMB Control Number: 0578-0032.
    Type of Request: Extension.
    Abstract: The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill, 
Pub L. 115-334) authorized the Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) 
mission area and NRCS to award competitive grants to local units of 
government, school districts, and tribal communities to support the 
development of urban agriculture and innovative production with the 
goal of improving access to local foods in areas where access to fresh, 
healthy food is limited or unavailable. In FY 2020 and FY 2021, the 
first 2 years of the program, NRCS granted 31 awards totaling just over 
$7.9 million. To improve the ability of communities nationwide to 
implement projects that improve access to local foods, the UAIP program 
is substantially increasing its public investment through additional 
funding and awards in FY 2022, leveraging additional funding provided 
by the American Rescue Plan of 2021 (Pub L. 117-2). The grant 
recipients (applicants) are required to sign the notice of award and 
provide documents such as the project summary, Negotiated Indirect Cost 
Rate Agreement (NICRA), de minimus rate agreement, and annual progress 
reports. We received Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clearance to 
electronically submit required forms through Grants.gov (SF-270, SF-
424, and SF-425).
    For the following estimated total annual burden on respondents, the 
formula used to calculate the total burden hour is the estimated 
average time per responses hours multiplied by the estimated total 
annual responses.
    Estimate of annual burden: Public reporting burden for the 
collection of information is estimated to average 7.55 hours per 
response.
    Respondents: Grant recipients.
    Estimated number of respondents: 897.
    Estimated number of responses per respondent: 1.
    Estimated total annual number of responses: 897.
    Estimated average time per response: 7.55 hours.
    Estimated total annual burden hours: 6,773 hours.

    Title: Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR).
    OMB Control Number: 0578-0033.
    Type of Request: Extension.
    Abstract: The 2018 Farm Bill authorized the FPAC mission area and 
NRCS to carry out pilot projects under which local and municipal 
governments enter into cooperative agreements to develop and test 
strategies for planning and implementing municipal composting plans and 
food waste reduction plans. In FY 2020 and FY 2021, the first 2 years 
of the program, NRCS granted 37 awards totaling just over $3 million. 
To improve the ability of communities nationwide to implement projects 
that increase compost, improve soil quality, and reduce food waste, the 
CFWR program is substantially increasing its public investment by 
funding awards during FY 2022, leveraging additional funding provided 
by the American Rescue Plan of 2021 (Pub L. 117-2). Although no new 
information is being collected beyond prior-year requests, NRCS 
anticipates an additional public burden due to an increase in 
applications received and awards made. The grant recipients are 
required to sign the notice of award and provide documents such as the 
project summary, NICRA, de minimus rate agreement, and annual progress 
reports. We received OMB clearance to electronically submit required 
forms through Grants.gov (SF-270, SF-424 and SF-425).
    For the following estimated total annual burden on respondents, the 
formula used to calculate the total burden in hours is the average of 
the estimated time per response multiplied by the estimated total 
annual responses required.
    Estimate of annual burden: Public reporting burden for the 
collection of information is estimated to average 7.39 hours per 
response.
    Respondents: Grant recipients.
    Estimated number of respondents: 724.
    Estimated number of responses per respondent: 1.
    Estimated total annual number of responses: 724.
    Estimated average time per response: 7.39 hours.
    Estimated total annual burden hours: 5,353 hours.
    We are requesting comments on all aspects of the information 
collections to help us:
    (1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the agency to function properly, including whether the 
information will be useful for practical applications;
    (2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimated burden for the 
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology 
used and assumptions made;

[[Page 30867]]

    (3) Evaluate the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
technology; and
    (4) Minimize the burden of the information collection on those who 
respond using appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other 
technological collection techniques or forms of information technology.
    All comments received in response to this notice, including names 
and addresses provided, will be made a matter of public record. 
Comments will be summarized and included in the request for OMB 
approval of the information collection.

Louis Aspey,
Associate Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-10914 Filed 5-19-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-05-P


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