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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 164 / Friday, August 27, 2021 / Proposed Rules
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The intent of the Order was to allow peanut farmers to oversee a peanut research, marketing, and promotion organization to improve their economic condition. To be successful, there must be an adequate pool of interested, qualified producers to serve on the Board. The Board voted unanimously on December 3, 2020, and February 3, 2021, to raise the threshold for primary peanut-producing states to those that maintain a 3-year average production of at least 20,000 tons of peanuts. This proposed change would cause the state of New Mexico to become a minor peanut-producing state instead of a primary peanut-producing state, since its production will be below the proposed 20,000-ton threshold. Minor peanut-producing states will be represented by Louisiana and New Mexico. The Board recommended that the change take place by January 1, 2022, to give New Mexicos certified peanut producer organization enough notice of their status change to a minor peanut-producing state. Nominations to fill the at-large seats would take place in 2022 for the term of office to begin in 2023.
Accordingly, this proposed rule would amend 1216.15 and 1216.21 to define the state of New Mexico as a minor peanut-producing state. This proposal would require primary peanutproducing states to maintain a 3-year average production of at least 20,000
tons of peanuts. This proposal would also revise 1216.40a to specify that the Board would be comprised of no more than 12 peanut producer members and their alternates rather than 13, and revise 1216.40a1 to reflect the new number of primary peanut-producing states, by revising 12 to 11.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Act Analysis In accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA 5 U.S.C. 601
612, AMS is required to examine the impact of the proposed rule on small entities. Accordingly, AMS has considered the economic impact of this action on small entities.
The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of businesses subject to such actions so that small businesses will not be disproportionately burdened. The Small Business Administration SBA defines, in 13 CFR part 121, small agricultural producers as those having annual receipts of no more than $1 million and small agricultural service firms handlers as those having annual receipts of no more than $30 million.
According to the Board, there were approximately 7200 producers and 34

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handlers of peanuts who were subject to the program in 2019.
Most producers would be classified as small agricultural production businesses under the criteria established by the SBA no more than $1 million in annual peanut sales. USDAs National Agricultural Statistics Service NASS
reported that crop values of peanuts produced in the top 11 peanutproducing states for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019 were $1.63 billion, $1.17
billion, and $1.13 billion, respectively.
The 3-year crop average was $1.31
billion. With a 2019 crop value of $1.13
billion and a total of 7,200 producers, average peanut sales per producer were approximately $157,000. With a 2017
2018 average crop value of $1.31 billion, average sales per producer were approximately $182,000. Both figures are well below the $1 million threshold for a small producer, providing strong evidence that most peanut producers are small businesses.
With 34 handlers, the average annual peanut crop value per handler from 2017 to 2019 ranged from $33 million to $48 million, with a 3-year average of $39 million. With average sales figures moderately higher than the small business threshold size of $30 million, it appears that several handlers are small businesses and there are also a number that are large businessesno definitive statement can be made.
According to NASS, the number of pounds of U.S. peanut production from 11-primary peanut-producing states for 2017, 2018, and 2019 were 7.12 billion, 5.50 billion and 5.47 billion, respectively. The 3-year average production was 6.03 billion pounds.
Computations based on NASS data show that Georgia was the largest producer, with 50.9 percent of the 3year average quantity, followed by Alabama 9.9 percent, Florida 9.9
percent, Texas 9.1 percent, North Carolina 7.2 percent, South Carolina 5.4 percent, Arkansas 2.4 percent, Mississippi 1.9 percent, Virginia 1.8
percent, Oklahoma 1.0 percent, and New Mexico under one percent.
This proposal would amend 1216.15, 1216.21 and 1216.40 to redefine the state of New Mexico from a primary peanut-producing state to a minor peanut-producing state. The Order is administered by the Board with oversight by USDA. Under the Order, primary peanut-producing states must maintain a 3-year average production of at least 10,000 tons of peanuts. This amendment would increase the production threshold to 20,000 tons of peanuts. This action would expand the number of minor peanut-producing states to ensure that the Board obtains
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an adequate pool of qualified producers to serve on the Board to represent minor peanut-producing states. This action is authorized under 1216.87 of the Order.
Regarding the economic impact of this proposed rule on affected entities, this action would impose no costs on producers or handlers. Changes would define the state of New Mexico as a minor peanut-producing state based on the proposed increase to the threshold to 20,000 tons of peanuts.
Regarding alternatives, the Board has been concerned about obtaining the required two nominees for each open seat to be submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture for primary peanutproducing states and minor peanutproducing states. For years, the Boards staff has actively recruited candidates to be considered for nomination from multiple primary peanut-producing states and minor peanut-producing states, sometimes with little success.
The Board considered increasing the threshold for primary peanut-producing states from 10,000 to 30,000 per ton for a 3-year production average. After discussion, the Board voted to double the threshold and require the primary peanut-producing states to maintain a 3year production average of at least 20,000 tons of peanuts.
In accordance with OMB regulation 5
CFR part 1320, which implements information collection requirements imposed by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., there are no new requirements contained in this rule. In fact, a decrease of 0.30 hours in the information collection burden for the peanut program is expected. Information collection requirements have been previously approved by OMB under OMB control number 05810093 and 05050001.
As with all Federal promotion 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 proposed 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.
Regarding outreach efforts, the Board invited Executive Directors of certified peanut producer organizations who represent the primary peanut-producing states Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina,
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