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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 3 / Wednesday, January 6, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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receive QLA Program payments up to the applicable payment limitation noted above. With respect to joint ventures and general partnerships, this AGI
provision will be applied to each member of the joint venture and general partnership.
Requirement to Purchase Crop Insurance or NAP Coverage The Disaster Relief Act requires all participants who receive QLA Program payments to purchase crop insurance or NAP coverage for the next 2 available crop years. The latest year for meeting compliance with this provision will be the 2023 crop year. In other words, if the 2 consecutive years of coverage are not met by 2023 coverage year, the participant is ineligible for and must refund QLP Program payments.
Participants must obtain crop insurance or NAP, as may be applicable, at the 60
percent coverage level or higher. In situations where crop insurance is unavailable for a crop, the Disaster Relief Act requires that a QLA Program participant obtain NAP coverage.
Section 1001D of the Food Security Act of 1985 1985 Farm Bill provides that a person or entity with AGI in amount greater than $900,000 is not eligible to participate in NAP; however, producers with an AGI greater than $900,000 may be eligible for the QLA Program if at least 75 percent of that persons or legal entitys average AGI is derived from farming, ranching, or forestry-related activities. Accordingly, in order to reconcile this restriction in the 1985
Farm Bill and the Disaster Relief Acts requirement to obtain NAP or crop insurance coverage, QLA Program participants may meet the Disaster Relief Acts purchase requirement by purchasing Whole-Farm Revenue Protection crop insurance coverage, if eligible, or they may pay the applicable NAP service fee and premium for the 60
percent coverage level despite their ineligibility for a NAP payment. In other words, the service fee and premium must be paid even though no NAP
payment may be made because the AGI
of the person or entity exceeds the 1985
Farm Bill limitation.
The crop insurance and NAP coverage requirements are specific to the crop and county county where the crop is physically located for insurance and administrative county for NAP for which QLA Program payments are paid.
This means that a producer is required to purchase crop insurance or NAP
coverage for the crop in the county for which the producer was issued a QLA
Program payment. Producers who receive a payment on a crop in a county and who have the crop or crop acreage
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in subsequent years, as provided in this rule, and who fail to obtain the 2 years of crop insurance or NAP coverage must refund all QLA Program payments for that crop in that county with interest from the date of disbursement. This is a condition of payment eligibility specified by Disaster Relief Act and is therefore not subject to partial payment eligibility or other types of equitable relief. Producers who were paid under the QLA Program for a crop in a county but do not plant that crop in a subsequent year are not subject to the crop insurance or NAP purchase requirement. WHIP+ participants who already met the requirement to purchase crop insurance or NAP coverage as specified in 7 CFR 760.1517 are considered to have also met the requirement to purchase crop insurance or NAP coverage for QLA Program purposes, and they are not required to obtain additional years of crop insurance or NAP coverage as a result of also receiving a QLA Program payment for that crop.
Applicable general eligibility requirements, including recordkeeping requirements and required compliance with HELC and Wetland Conservation provisions, are similar to those for the previous ad hoc crop disaster programs and current permanent disaster programs. All information provided to FSA for program eligibility and payment calculation purposes, including production records, is subject to spot check.
WHIP+
FSA, on behalf of the Secretary of Agriculture, previously implemented provisions of the Disaster Relief Act by establishing WHIP+ through a final rule published on September 19, 2019 84 FR
4851848537. The Disaster Relief Act provided assistance for losses of crops, trees, bushes, and vines, as a consequence of hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, typhoons, volcanic activity, snowstorms, and wildfires occurring in calendar years 2018 and 2019. WHIP+
covers only production losses of crops except in specific circumstances discussed previously in this document when the producer may have also been compensated for quality losses.
This rule amends 7 CFR 760.1500c and the definition of qualifying disaster event in 760.1502 to include excessive moisture and qualifying drought. As under the QLA Program, drought is only considered a qualifying disaster event if an area within the county was rated by the U.S. Drought Monitor as having a D3 extreme drought or higher level of drought intensity during the applicable calendar
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year. This rule adds definitions of qualifying drought and U.S. Drought Monitor in 760.1502.
The addition of these qualifying disaster events for WHIP+ was selfenacting as the text in the law clearly specified the required changes without need for interpretation; therefore, FSA
began the sign-up period for losses due to excessive moisture and qualifying drought on March 23, 2020, and sign-up ended on October 30, 2020. Producers applying for WHIP+ assistance for losses due to excessive moisture or qualifying drought were required to meet all requirements in 7 CFR part 760, subpart O, including the requirement to purchase crop insurance for 2 years as specified in 760.1517.
The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 also directed the Secretary to pay sugar beet losses in 2018 and 2019 through cooperative processors. FSA has established cooperative agreements with sugar beet processors; those processors will be responsible for distributing assistance to their members. This rule amends the eligibility provisions in 760.1517 to specify that members of cooperatives are not eligible for a WHIP+ payment for sugar beet losses.
FSA is also updating 760.1510a to reflect the application deadline of October 30, 2020, and correcting references in 760.1508c and f and 760.1511a6.
Notice and Comment and Effective Date The Administrative Procedure Act 5
U.S.C. 553 provides that the notice and comment and 30-day delay in the effective date provisions do not apply when the rule involves a matter relating to agency management or personnel or to public property, loans, grants, benefits, or contracts. This rule involves programs for payments to certain agricultural commodity producers and therefore falls within that exemption.
Due to the nature of the rule and the need to implement the regulations expeditiously to provide assistance to agricultural producers, FSA finds that notice and public procedure are contrary to the public interest.
Therefore, even though this rule is a major rule for purposes of the Congressional Review Act, FSA is not required to delay the effective date for 60 days from the date of publication to allow for Congressional review.
Therefore, this rule is effective upon publication in the Federal Register.
Executive Orders 12866, 13563, 13771
and 13777
Executive Order 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review, and Executive
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