Memo

United States
Department of
Agriculture
Farm
Production
And Conservatio
(FPAC)
Farm Service
Agency (FSA)
1400
Independence
Avenue, SW
Stop 0540
Washington, DC
20250-0540

DATE:

October 12, 2021

TO:

Josh Brammer
OMB Desk Officer

THROUGH: Ruth Brown

Jamie A. White

Digitally signed by JAMIE WHITE
Date: 2021.10.12 09:29:32 -05'00'

USDA Information Collection Officer
FROM:

Jamie White
FSA Acting Deputy Administrator Farm Programs

SUBJECT:
Request for Emergency Approval for a New Information
Collection Package—Oriental Fruit Fly (OFF) Program
This request is for OMB review and emergency approval of a collection ofinformation
necessary to implement the Oriental Fruit Fly (OFF) Program. The emergency
approval is needed because we could not comply with the normal clearance under the
Paperwork Reduction Act, and it is essential to the mission of FSA to provide financial
assistance as quickly as possible to the affected producers. FSA establishes provisions
for providing assistance as authorized by Section 778 of the Consolidated
Appropriation Act of 2019 (Pub. L. 116-6), which appropriated $9 million to the Farm
Service Agency (FSA) for the purpose of making payments to producers impacted by
an Oriental Fruit Fly Quarantine. Funds will remain available until expended. FSA
will publish a consolidated rule that includes the implementation of a new Oriental
Fruit Fly (OFF) Program under the new regulation of 7 CFR 756.
The sign-up period for OFF payments will be included in the published rule. If
necessary, at the close of the OFF-sign-up period, a national payment factor may be
determined and announced by FSA if the total of calculated payments exceed the
authorized funding of $9 million, less a reserve amount of 3% ($270,000). The final
rule will be published in the Federal Register to provide guidance and notify applicants
of the sign-up period. Up to 700 producers are expected to apply for payments under
the OFF Program.
The Farm Service Agency (FSA) needs to collect the information from applicants by
completing the FSA-438 application for the eligible agricultural commodities that
suffered OFF related revenue losses to ensure that calculations most accurately reflect
revenue losses to ensure equitable treatment. For OFF program eligibility, producers
are also required to have the following forms on file with FSA: CCC-902I, Farm
Operating Plan for an Individual; CCC- 902E, Farm Operating Plan for an Entity;
CCC-901, Member Information for Legal Entities,

if applicable; CCC-941, Average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)
Certification and Consent to Disclosure of Tax Information;CCC-942,
Certification of Income from Farming, Ranching, and Forestry Operations,
Optional; AD-1026, Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and
Wetland Conservation Certification.
We are requesting emergency approval of a new information collection
package so FSA can provide assistance to eligible producers.
If there are any questions or concerns, please call Deirdre Holder at
202-205-5851 or Mary Ann Ball at 202-720-4283.
as