Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2013/05/23/2013-12240/irish-potatoes-grown-in-colorado-reestablishment-of-membership-on-the-colorado-potato-administrative
Timestamp: 2017-08-23 08:45:50
Document Index: 210950289

Matched Legal Cases: ['§\u2009948', '§\u2009948', '§\u2009948', '§\u2009948', '§\u2009948', '§\u2009948', '§\u2009948']

A Rule by the Agricultural Marketing Service on 05/23/2013
78 FR 30737
30737-30739 (3 pages)
2013-12240
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2013-12240 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2013-12240
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 30737
Sue Coleman, Marketing Specialist, or Gary Olson, Regional Director, Northwest Marketing Field Office, Marketing Order and Agreement Division, Fruit and Vegetable Program, AMS, USDA; Telephone: (503) 326-2724, Fax: (503) 326-7440, or Email: Sue.Coleman@ams.usda.gov or GaryD.Olson@ams.usda.gov.
This final rule reestablishes the membership structure of the Committee. This action modifies the current Committee membership structure by amending the position currently allocated to a producer from Conejos County. Beginning with the 2013-2014 term of office, the designated Committee position will be allocated to an eligible producer operating in either Conejos or Costilla County. This action is expected to improve Committee representation for producers from this sub-region of the production area. This change was unanimously recommended by the Committee at a meeting held on July 19, 2012.
Section 948.150(a) of the order's administrative rules prescribes the Area No. 2 Committee membership, as reestablished under previous rulemaking actions, with nine producer members and five handler members. The nine producer positions are designated to represent various sub-regions of the production area. Currently, § 948.150(a)(3) specifically allocates one of those producer positions to a producer from Conejos County.
At its meeting on July 19, 2012, the Committee unanimously recommended modifying the Committee membership structure by amending the position allocated to a producer from Conejos County. The Committee acknowledged that the position has been increasingly hard to fill as the number of potato producers located in Conejos County eligible to serve on the Committee has declined. The Committee attributed the decrease in the number of producers to a number of issues in that area, Start Printed Page 30738including competition from alternative crops and industry consolidation.
The Committee believes that allocating the position specified in § 948.150(a)(3) to a producer from either Conejos or Costilla County, instead of just from Conejos County, will increase the pool of potential Committee participants from that general sub-region of the production area. Conejos County and Costilla County adjoin each other on the southern boundary of the production area and share similar climates, soils, production resources, and marketing opportunities. Producers from either of the two counties will be able to adequately represent this sub-region of the production area on the Committee. Currently, producers from Costilla County are represented on the Committee by the position allocated in § 948.150(a)(5), which represents all other counties in Area No. 2 that do not have representation specified in § 948.150(a)(1) through (4). This change is expected to increase the pool of potential participants eligible to serve on the Committee and to improve representation for producers from both Conejos and Costilla Counties. This action was unanimously recommended by the full Committee.
This final rule reestablishes the Area No. 2 Committee membership structure currently prescribed under § 948.150(a) of the order by amending the position allocated to a producer from Conejos County (§ 948.150(a)(3)). Beginning with the 2013-2014 term of office, the designated Committee position will be allocated to an eligible producer operating in either Conejos or Costilla County. Authority for this action is contained in §§ 948.50 and 948.53.
At the meeting, the Committee discussed the impact of this change on handlers and producers. This action is expected to improve Committee representation for producers from this general sub-region of the production area. Further, the modification is not anticipated to have any financial or regulatory impact on the area's potato producers or handlers. Lastly, the benefits resulting from this action are equally available to all handlers and producers regardless of their size.
The Committee discussed alternatives to this change including taking no immediate action, reviewing the issue in the future, and redesignating the Committee position to be an at-large position that could be filled by producers from across the entire production area.
The Committee believes that representation on the Committee by producers from each of the sub-regions of the production area is important for the efficient administration of the order. The Committee also feels that the declining trend in the number of producers in Conejos County is not likely to be self-reversing. As such, the Committee determined that there would not be any benefit to delaying corrective action to resolve this Committee representation issue and readdressing it in the future. In addition, the Committee determined that changing the position designated to a producer from Conejos County into an at-large position could jeopardize the representation for producers from that southern sub-region. As such, the Committee concluded that neither of the above options would be sufficiently responsive to the current situation and that modifying the membership structure as recommended is the best course of action to take at this time.
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. In addition, USDA has not identified any relevant Federal rules that duplicate, overlap, or conflict with this final rule.
A proposed rule concerning this action was published in the Federal Register on February 11, 2013 (78 FR 9629). An internet link to the proposed rule was published in a monthly industry newsletter distributed to growers, handlers, and other interested persons. Finally, the proposed rule was made available through the Internet by USDA and the Office of the Federal Register. A 60-day comment period ending April 12, 2013, was provided to allow interested persons to respond to Start Printed Page 30739the proposal. No comments were received.
After consideration of all relevant matter presented, including the information and recommendation submitted by the Committee and other available information, it is hereby found that this action, as hereinafter set forth, will tend to effectuate the declared policy of the Act.
It is further found that good cause exists for not postponing the effective date of this final rule until 30 days after publication in the Federal Register (5 U.S.C. 553) because the 2013-2014 term of office will begin on June 1, 2013. Further, handlers are aware of this action, which was recommended at a public meeting. Also, a 60-day comment period was provided for in the proposed rule.
[FR Doc. 2013-12240 Filed 5-22-13; 8:45 am]