Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Various Crop Provisions

SUMMARY: The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) amends the Small Grains Crop Insurance Provisions, Cotton Crop Insurance Provisions, Extra Long Staple Cotton Crop Insurance Provisions, Sunflower Seed Crop Insurance Provisions, Sugar Beet Crop Insurance Provisions, Hybrid Sorghum Seed Crop Insurance Provisions, Coarse Grains Crop Insurance Provisions, Safflower Crop Insurance Provisions, Popcorn Crop Insurance Provisions, Peanut Crop Insurance Provisions, Onion Crop Insurance Provisions, Tobacco Crop Insurance Provisions, Green Pea Crop Insurance Provisions, Dry Pea Crop Insurance Provisions, Rice Crop Insurance Provisions, Northern Potato Crop Insurance Provisions, Central and Southern Potato Crop Insurance Provisions, Dry Bean Crop Insurance Provisions, Hybrid Seed Corn Crop Insurance Provisions, Processing Sweet Corn Crop Provisions, Processing Bean Crop Insurance Provisions, Canola and Rapeseed Crop Insurance Provisions, Millet Crop Insurance Provisions, and Mustard Crop Insurance Provisions. The purpose of this final rule with comment is to update prevented planting coverage levels through the actuarial documents to improve actuarial considerations and coverage offered, program integrity, and to reduce vulnerability to program fraud, waste, and abuse. The changes to the Crop Provisions made in this rule are applicable for the 2017 and succeeding crop years for all crops with a 2017 contract change date on or after the effective date of the rule, and for the 2018 and succeeding crop years for all crops with a 2017 contract change date prior to the effective date of the rule.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This rule is effective November 23, 2016 However, FCIC will accept written comments on this final rule until close of business January 23, 2017. FCIC may consider the comments received and may conduct additional rulemaking based on the comments.

ADDRESSES: FCIC prefers interested persons submit their comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Interested persons may submit comments, identified by Docket ID No. FCIC-16-0003, by any of the following methods:

* Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

* Mail: Director, Product Administration and Standards Division, Risk Management Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 419205, Kansas City, MO 64133-6205.

FCIC will post all comments received, including those received by mail, without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Once these comments are posted to this Web site, the public can access all comments at its convenience from this Web site. All comments must include the agency name and docket number or Regulatory Information Number (RIN) for this rule. For detailed instructions on submitting comments and additional information, see http://www.regulations.gov. If interested persons are submitting comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal and want to attach a document, FCIC requests that the document attachment be in a text-based format. If interested persons want to attach a document that is a scanned Adobe PDF file, it must be scanned as text and not as an image, thus allowing FCIC to search and copy certain portions of the submissions. For questions regarding attaching a document that is a scanned Adobe PDF file, please contact the Risk Management Agency (RMA) Web Content Team at (816) 823-4694 or by email at [email protected].

Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments received for any dockets by the name of the person submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an entity, such as an association, business, labor union, etc.). Interested persons may review the complete User Notice and Privacy Notice for Regulations.gov at http://www.regulations.gov/#!privacyNotice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tim Hoffmann, Director, Product Management, Product Administration and Standards Division, Risk Management Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, Beacon Facility, Stop 0812, Room 421, P.O. Box 419205, Kansas City, MO 64141-6205, telephone (816) 926-7730.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Prior to the FCIC offering coverage for prevented planting, prevented planting payments were linked to USDA program provisions such as the farmer's program yield and the target price. Adjustments to the Federal Crop Insurance Act (Act) from the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 mandated that coverage for prevented planting be a part of crop insurance policies offered under the Federal crop insurance program, as appropriate. Following these changes to the Act, FCIC incorporated preventing planting provisions into the Common Crop Insurance Basic Provisions. A 1996 study by USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) established the basis for the original prevented planting coverage levels. The study and estimated pre-planting costs were reviewed again by ERS in 2002, and FCIC adjusted prevented planting coverage levels accordingly.

Further, the Office of Inspector General for Audit (OIG) conducted an audit on the Federal crop insurance prevented planting program for 2011-2012 and recommended RMA obtain updated pre-planting cost information, and reevaluate the current prevented planting coverage levels making adjustments consistent with the pre-planting costs for each crop.

FCIC contracted to review the prevented planting policy and determine appropriate pre-planting costs to be covered, evaluate the reasonableness of current prevented planting payments by crop and region, examine alternative methods and approaches to the program, provide alternative payment amounts as appropriate, and develop a plan for routinely updating those amounts. For some crops or crops in certain regions, the contractor suggested FCIC raise or lower the current prevented planting coverage levels. RMA shared this study with stakeholders to determine if the recommendations made sense to growers. This final rule with comment makes changes to allow for revisions to the prevented planting coverage levels, based on the contractor's findings and report, stakeholder comments in response to the contractors report, and FCIC's re-examination of the evaluation and those stakeholder comments received. This rule allows for any new percentages of prevented planting coverage that FCIC determines provides adequate protection for those costs incurred even though the crop was prevented from planting to be specified in the actuarial documents and removes them from the Crop Provisions. The rule also leaves the option for additional prevented planting coverage if offered in the actuarial documents. This will allow FCIC to expedite its update of the percentages in response to changing production conditions.

Effective Date

FCIC is exempt from all requirements in the administrative procedure provisions in 5 U.S.C. 553, which includes the 30-day effective date. This rule allows FCIC to make the changes to the Crop Provisions in time for 2017 spring planted crops. Therefore, this final rule is effective when published in the Federal Register .

Executive Order 12866

This rule has been determined to be not significant for the purposes of Executive Order 12866 and, therefore, it has not been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

Pursuant to the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), the collections of information in this rule have been approved by OMB under control numbers 0563-0085, 0563-0083, and 0563-0053.

E-Government Act Compliance

FCIC is committed to complying with the E-Government Act of 2002, 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.

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) establishes requirements for Federal agencies to assess the effects of their regulatory actions on State, local, and tribal governments and the private sector. This rule contains no Federal mandates (under the regulatory provisions of title II of the UMRA) for State, local, and tribal governments or the private sector. Therefore, this rule is not subject to the requirements of sections 202 and 205 of UMRA.

Executive Order 13132

It has been determined under section 1(a) of Executive Order 13132, Federalism, that this rule does not have sufficient implications to warrant consultation with the States. The provisions contained in this rule will not have a substantial direct effect on States, or on the relationship between the national government and the States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government.

Executive Order 13175

This rule has been reviewed in accordance with the requirements of Executive Order 13175, "Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments." Executive Order 13175 requires Federal agencies to consult and coordinate with tribes on a government-to-government basis on policies that have tribal implications, including regulations, legislative comments or proposed legislation, and other policy statements or actions that 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.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation has assessed the impact of this rule on Indian tribes and determined that this rule does not, to our knowledge, have tribal implications that require tribal consultation under E.O. 13175. If a Tribe requests consultation, the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation will work with the Office of Tribal Relations to ensure meaningful consultation is provided where changes, additions and modifications identified herein are not expressly mandated by Congress.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

--This is a summary of a Federal Register article originally published on the page number listed below--

Final rule with request for comments.

CFR Part: "7 CFR Part 457"

RIN Number: "RIN 0563-AC52"

Citation: "81 FR 84396"

Document Number: "Docket No. FCIC-16-0003"

Federal Register Page Number: "84396"

"Rules and Regulations"