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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 153 / Thursday, August 12, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
The Committee recommended increasing the assessment rate due to the smaller crop. The assessment rate and funds from the Committees authorized financial reserve is expected to cover the Committees budgeted expenses for the 2021 fiscal year. Funds in the reserve are expected to remain within the maximum permitted by the Order.
The Order has both a fiscal year and a crop year that are independent of each other. The crop year is a 12-month period that begins on August 1 of each year and ends on July 31 of the following year. The fiscal year is the 12month period that begins on January 1
and ends on December 31 of each year.
Actual crop year receipts, along with the proposed budget, are used to determine the assessment rate for the following fiscal year. Olives are an alternate-bearing crop, with a small crop followed by a large crop. Therefore, the Committee expects fluctuations in the assessment rate.
Major expenditures recommended by the Committee for the 2021 fiscal year include $531,300 for general administration expenses, $334,532 for research, $238,000 for marketing expenses, and $48,000 for inspection expenses. Budgeted expenses for these items for the 2020 fiscal year were $631,300, $225,606, $123,500, and $55,000, respectively.
The Committee derived the recommended assessment rate by considering anticipated fiscal year expenses, actual olive tonnage received by handlers during the 2020 crop year, and the amount of funds available in the authorized reserve. Income derived from handler assessments, calculated at $695,790 23,193 tons assessable olives multiplied by $30.00 assessment rate, along with funds from the Committees authorized reserve of $456,042, will be adequate to cover budgeted expenses of $1,151,832 for the 2021 fiscal year.
The assessment rate established in this rule will continue in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated by USDA
upon recommendation and information submitted by the Committee or other available information.
Although this assessment rate will be in effect for an indefinite period, the Committee will continue to meet prior to or during each fiscal year to recommend a budget of expenses and consider recommendations for modification of the assessment rate.
Dates and times of Committee meetings are available from the Committee or USDA. Committee meetings are open to the public and interested persons may express their views at these meetings.

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USDA will evaluate Committee recommendations and other available information to determine whether modification of the assessment rate is needed. Further rulemaking would be undertaken as necessary. The Committees 2021 fiscal year budget, and those for subsequent fiscal years, will be reviewed and, as appropriate, approved by USDA.
Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA 5
U.S.C. 601612, the Agricultural Marketing Service AMS has considered the economic impact of this rule on small entities. Accordingly, AMS has prepared this final regulatory flexibility analysis.
The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of businesses subject to such actions in order that small businesses will not be unduly or disproportionately burdened.
Marketing orders issued pursuant to the Act, and the rules issued thereunder, are unique in that they are brought about through group action of essentially small entities acting on their own behalf.
There are approximately 800
producers of olives in the production area and 2 handlers subject to regulation under the Order. Small agricultural producers are defined by the Small Business Administration SBA as those having annual receipts of less than $1,000,000, and small agricultural service firms have been defined as those whose annual receipts are less than $30,000,000 13 CFR 121.201.
According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service NASS, the national average producer price for olives for the 2020 crop year was $791.00 per ton, and total assessable volume for the 2020 crop year was 23,193 tons. The total 2020 value of the olive crop was $18,345,663 23,193 tons times $791.00 per ton. Dividing the crop value by the estimated number of producers 800 yields an estimated average receipt per producer of $22,932.
Thus, the majority of olive producers may be classified as small agricultural producers.
Based on information from the Committee regarding the volume handled by each handler, neither handler can be classified as a small agricultural service firm. Both handlers may be classified as large entities under the SBAs definition because their annual receipts are greater than $30,000,000.
As noted above, the average price received per ton by producers in the preceding crop year was $791.00 per ton
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of assessable olives. Given the total crop received by handlers of 23,193 tons, the total producer revenue is expected to be $18,345,663. The total assessment revenue is expected to be $695,790
23,193 tons times $30.00 per ton.
Thus, the total assessment revenue compared to total producer revenue is 0.038 percent.
This rule increases the assessment rate collected from handlers for the 2021
fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years from $15.00 to $30.00 per ton of assessable olives. The Committee unanimously recommended 2021
expenditures of $1,151,832 and an assessment rate of $30.00 per ton of assessable olives. The assessment rate of $30.00 per ton of assessable olives is $15.00 higher than the current rate. The volume of assessable olives from the 2020 crop year is estimated to be 23,193
tons. Thus, the $30.00 per ton assessment rate should provide $695,790 in assessment income 23,193
tons assessable olives multiplied by $30.00 assessment rate. Income derived from handler assessments, along with funds from the Committees authorized reserve, should be adequate to cover budgeted expenses for the 2021 fiscal year.
Major expenditures recommended by the Committee for the 2021 fiscal year include $531,300 for general administration expenses, $334,532 for research, $238,000 for marketing expenses, and $48,000 for inspection expenses. Budgeted expenses for these items in the 2020 fiscal year were $631,300, $225,606, $123,500, and $55,000, respectively.
The Committee recommended increasing the assessment rate to provide adequate income to cover the Committees budgeted expenses for the 2021 fiscal year while maintaining its financial reserve within the requirements of the Order.
Prior to arriving at this budget and assessment rate recommendation, the Committee received information from its Executive, Marketing, and Research subcommittees. At each subcommittee meeting, the members discussed various alternatives to both the assessment rate and programs under their purview.
Subcommittees deliberated alternatives relative to their needs and the costs of the programs they oversee. The Research subcommittee, for example, discussed production research proposals, their relative values, whether costs associated with each project was appropriate, whether the project was appropriate in scale, and whether the project met industrys needs. These types of deliberations are part of the annual discussion held by each
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