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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 56 / Thursday, March 25, 2021 / Proposed Rules NAICS Food Manufacturing sector. The small business thresholds for food manufacturing operations are based on the number of employees and range from 500 to 1,250 employees, depending on the specific type of manufacturing.
Certifying agents fall under the NAICS
subsector, All other professional, scientific and technical services. For this category, the small business threshold is average annual receipts of less than $16.5 million.
AMS has considered the economic impact of this proposed rulemaking on small agricultural entities. Data collected by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service and the NOP indicate most of the certified organic production operations in the United States would be considered small entities. According to the 2019
Certified Organic Survey, 16,524 organic farms in the United States reported sales of organic products and total farmgate sales in excess of $9.9 billion.14 Based on that data, organic sales average $601,000 per farm. Assuming a normal distribution of producers, we expect that most of these producers would fall under the $1,000,000 sales threshold to qualify as a small business.
According to the NOPs Organic Integrity Database, there are 19,832
organic handlers that are certified under the USDA organic regulations, of which 10,500 are based in the U.S.15 The Organic Trade Associations 2020
Organic Industry Survey 16 has information about employment trends among organic manufacturers. The reported data are stratified into three groups by the number of employees per company: Less than 5; 5 to 49; and 50
plus. These data are representative of the organic manufacturing sector and the lower bound 50 of the range for the larger manufacturers is significantly smaller than the SBAs small business thresholds 500 to 1,250. Therefore, AMS expects that most organic handlers would qualify as small businesses.
The USDA has 77 accredited certifying agents who provide organic certification services to producers and handlers. The certifying agent that reports the most certified operations, nearly 3,500, would need to charge 14 U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service. 2019 Organic Survey. https www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/
AgCensus/2017/Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_1_
US/. The number of organic farms includes only certified farms.
15 Organic Integrity Database: https
organic.ams.usda.gov/Integrity/. Accessed on August 18, 2020.
16 2020 Organic Industry Survey, Organic Trade Association. Available for purchase at https
ota.com/organic-market-overview/organic-industrysurvey.

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approximately $4,200 in certification fees in order to exceed the SBAs small business threshold of $16.5 million. The costs for certification generally range from $500 to $3,500, depending on the complexity of the operation. Therefore, AMS expects that most of the accredited certifying agents would qualify as small entities under the SBA criteria.
The economic impact on entities affected by this rule would not be significant. The effect of this rule, if implemented as final, would be to allow the use of two additional substances in organic crop production and remove one redundant listing from the regulations. Adding two substances to the National List would increase regulatory flexibility and would give small entities more tools to use in dayto-day operations. This action would also remove dairy cultures as a redundant listing and would have no impact on the industry. AMS reviewed comments submitted to the NOSB
regarding the materials petitioned for inclusion on and recommended for removal from the National List.
Therefore, AMS concludes that the economic impact of this addition, if any, would be minimal. Accordingly, USDA
certifies that this rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
B. Executive Order 12988
Executive Order 12988 instructs each executive agency to adhere to certain requirements in the development of new and revised regulations in order to avoid unduly burdening the court system.
This proposed rule is not intended to have a retroactive effect.
Accordingly, to prevent duplicative regulation, states and local jurisdictions are preempted under the OFPA from creating programs of accreditation for private persons or state officials who want to become certifying agents of organic farms or handling operations. A
governing state official would have to apply to USDA to be accredited as a certifying agent, as described in section 6514b of the OFPA. States are also preempted under sections 6503 through 6507 of the OFPA from creating certification programs to certify organic farms or handling operations unless the state programs have been submitted to, and approved by, the Secretary as meeting the requirements of the OFPA.
Pursuant to section 6507b2 of the OFPA, a state organic certification program that has been approved by the Secretary may, under certain circumstances, contain additional requirements for the production and handling of agricultural products organically produced in the state and for
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the certification of organic farm and handling operations located within the state. Such additional requirements must a further the purposes of the OFPA, b not be inconsistent with the OFPA, c not be discriminatory toward agricultural commodities organically produced in other States, and d not be effective until approved by the Secretary.
In addition, pursuant to section 6519c6 of the OFPA, this proposed rule would not supersede or alter the authority of the Secretary under the Federal Meat Inspection Act 21 U.S.C.
601624, the Poultry Products Inspection Act 21 U.S.C. 451471, or the Egg Products Inspection Act 21
U.S.C. 10311056, concerning meat, poultry, and egg products, respectively, nor any of the authorities of the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act 21 U.S.C. 301 et seq., nor the authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq..
C. Paperwork Reduction Act No additional collection or recordkeeping requirements are imposed on the public by this proposed rule. Accordingly, OMB clearance is not required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3501, Chapter 35.
D. Executive Order 13175
This proposed rule has been reviewed in accordance with the requirements of Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments. The review reveals that this regulation will not have substantial and direct effects on tribal governments and will not have significant tribal implications.
F. General Notice of Public Rulemaking This proposed rule reflects recommendations submitted by the NOSB to the Secretary to add two substances to the National List and to remove one substance from the National List. A 60-day period for interested persons to comment on this rule is provided.
List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 205
Administrative practice and procedure, Agriculture, Archives and records, Crops, Imports, Labeling, National list, National Organic Standards Board NOSB, Organically produced products, Plants, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Seals and insignia, Soil conservation, Sunset.

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