Supporting Statement Part A - Supplemental

1Supporting Statement – Part A

CALIFORNIA IRRIGATION SURVEY – JULY 2022

OMB No. 0535-0264

This supporting statement addresses the new data collection effort for an irrigation survey in California for 2021. This project will collect data from a sample of operations with field crops, fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and horticulture commodities.

The reference period is crop year 2021.

Data collected under this supporting statement are for a cooperative agreement between the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and California Department of Water Resources (DWR).

The information collected from this and previous surveys (1991, 2001, 2010, and 2017) will be widely used to plan for future energy needs and to help water districts with long-term planning.

A. JUSTIFICATION

The California Irrigation Survey will being conducted through a cooperative agreement with the California Department of Water Resources under full-cost recovery. NASS has cooperative agreements with State Departments of Agriculture and Land Grant Universities to fulfill its mission of providing timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to United States agriculture. These cooperators often seek the assistance of NASS to provide statistics beneficial to agriculture, but are not covered by NASS’s annual Congressional appropriation. General authority for conducting cooperative projects is granted under U.S. Code Title 7, Section 450a which states that USDA officials may, “enter into agreements with and receive funds…for the purpose of conducting cooperative research projects…”

NASS benefits from these cooperative agreements by: (1) obtaining additional data to update its list of farm operators; (2) encouraging both parties to coordinate Federal survey activities and activities funded under a cooperative agreement to reduce the need for overlapping data collection and/or spread out respondent burden; and (3) facilitating additional promotion of NASS surveys and statistical reports funded by annual Congressional appropriations.

Respondents benefit from these cooperative agreements by: (1) having their reported data protected by Federal Law (U.S. Code Title 18, Section 1905; U.S. Code Title 7, Section 2276; and Public Law 115-435, codified in 44 U.S.C. Ch. 35 (CIPSEA)); (2) having data collection activities for Federal and Cooperative surveys coordinated to minimize respondent burden; and (3) having high-quality agricultural data that are important to a state or region be collected and published.

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

The primary function of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is to prepare and issue current official state and national estimates of crop and livestock production, value, disposition, and resource use.

General authority for these data collection activities is granted under U.S. Code Title 7, Section 2204. This statute specifies that "The Secretary of Agriculture shall procure and preserve all information concerning agriculture which he can obtain ... by the collection of statistics ... and shall distribute them among agriculturists."

The California Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) website (https://water.ca.gov/) mentions DWR manages California's water resources, systems, and infrastructure. Part of its responsibilities and duties include

• Informing and educating the public on water issues

• Planning for future water needs, climate change impacts, and flood protection

• Constructing and maintaining facilities

• Ensuring public safety, and

• Providing recreational opportunities

The information collected from this and previous surveys (1991, 2001, 2010, and 2017) will be widely used to meet the responsibilities of DRW, plan for future energy needs, and to help water districts with long-term planning.

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

This project will collect data from a sample of operations with field crops, fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and horticulture commodities in California. According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, in California, there were

• 35,087 Fruit, nut, and berry farms,

• 5,048 Vegetable farms,

• 3,656 Field crop farms, and

• 3,386 Horticultural operations.

Selected operators in California will be asked to provide data on irrigation water source, irrigation water management, as well as irrigation method (acres and irrigation source) for crops.

Data to be published include county level results for crop level and irrigation method that meet NASS disclosure policy.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

The California Irrigation Survey will use NASS’s Survey Designer System to enable the creation of comparable paper and web survey instrument. NASS will develop a Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI), along with a computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) for data collection from non-respondents to the mail or CAWI questionnaire.

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in Item 2 above.

NASS cooperates with State departments of agriculture, land grant universities, and other State and Federal agencies to conduct surveys. Wherever possible, surveys meet both State and Federal needs, thus eliminating duplication and minimizing reporting burden on the agricultural industry.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities (Item 5 of OMB Form 83-I), describe any methods used to minimize burden.

Out of the estimated sample size of 20,000, approximately 96 percent of the samples are estimated as small operations (i.e. have TVP less than $2 million dollars) based on the population of interest.

6. Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

The information collected from this and previous surveys (1991, 2001, 2010, and 2017) will be widely used to meet the responsibilities of DRW, plan for future energy needs, and to help water districts with long-term planning. This is more important during periods of drought.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the general information guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5.

There are no special circumstances associated with this information collection.

8. Provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8 (d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB. Summarize public comments received in response to that notice and describe actions taken by the agency in response to these comments.

The Federal Register Notice for the generic clearance soliciting comments was published on November 9, 2021.

Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and record-keeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and California Department of Water Resources (DWR) requested and received input on the data needs from the following individuals associated with the project:

• Dr. Morteza Orang, California Department of Water Resources, (916) 653-7707, Morteza.Orang@water.ca.gov.

• Richard Snyder, Biometeorology Specialist, University of California at Davis, (530) 752-4628, rlsnyder@ucdavis.edu

• Karen Ross, Secretary, California Department of Agriculture1220 N Street, Sacramento, CA 95814, 916-403-6770, KB.R@cdfa.ca.gov

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents.

No payment or gifts will be provided to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

Questionnaires include a statement that individual reports are confidential. U.S. Code Title 18, Section 1905; U.S. Code Title 7, Section 2276; and the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018, Title III of Pub. L. No. 115-435, codified in 44 U.S.C. Ch. 35 and other applicable Federal laws. All employees of NASS and all enumerators hired and supervised under a cooperative agreement with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) must read the regulations and sign a statement of compliance.

The following CIPSEA Pledge statement will appear on all future NASS questionnaires.

The information you provide will be used for statistical purposes only. Your responses will be kept confidential and any person who willfully discloses ANY identifiable information about you or your operation is subject to a jail term, a fine, or both. This survey is conducted in accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018, Title III of Pub. L. No. 115-435, codified in 44 U.S.C. Ch. 35 and other applicable Federal laws. For more information on how we protect your information please visit: https://www.nass.usda.gov/confidentiality.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature.

There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information. The statement should indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated. If this request for approval covers more than one form, provide separate hour burden estimates for each form and aggregate the hour burdens in Item 13 of OMB Form 83-I. Provide estimates of annualized cost to respondents for the hour burdens for collections of information, identifying and using appropriate wage rate categories.

Burden hours based on the average completion time per questionnaire are summarized below. Burden hour calculations are shown below.

The minutes-per-response figures were estimated based on the previous survey. Cost to the public of completing the questionnaire is assumed to be comparable to the hourly rate of those requesting the data. Reporting time of 8,033 hours is multiplied by $37.94 per hour for a total cost to the public of $ 304,772.02‬.

NASS uses the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics (most recently published on March 31, 2022 for the previous May) to estimate an hourly wage for the burden cost. The May 2021 mean wage for bookkeepers was $21.70. The mean wage for farm managers was $37.71. The mean wage for farm supervisors was $26.18. The mean wage of the three is $28.53. To calculate the fully loaded wage rate (includes allowances for Social Security, insurance, etc.) NASS will add 33% for a total of $37.94 per hour.

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection of information.

There are no capital/start-up or ongoing operation/maintenance costs associated with this information collection.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government; provide a description of the method used to estimate cost which should include quantification of hours, operational expenses, and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.

The projected cost to conduct the California Irrigation Survey is $255,000. Most of these costs are staff costs. The costs will be reimbursed by the California Department of Water Resources. There will be no cost to the Federal government.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I (reasons for changes in burden).

This is a new request, so there is no current inventory.

16. For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication. Address any complex analytical techniques that will be used. Provide the time schedule for the entire project, including beginning and ending dates of the collection of information, completion of report, publication dates, and other actions.

A report much like previous surveys is planned for publication in late 2023. The previous reports are located at this link:

https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Water-Use-And-Efficiency/Land-And-Water-Use/Statewide-Irrigation-Systems-Methods-Surveys

Data collection will begin in mid-July, 2022 when a cover letter and questionnaire will be sent out to respondents with information on how to access the survey via the Internet. NASS will use the mailing, internet, and phone/field enumeration to collect the data.

The Regional Field Office (RFO) is responsible for manually editing and processing the questionnaires. The RFO creates and provides editing guidelines to help ensure that all questionnaires are edited and analyzed in a consistent manner. After the data has been key entered and run through computer edits, survey data will be made available to approved California Department of Water Resources personnel for analysis and summarization through a secure data enclave operated by the Administrative Data Research Facility (ADRF) operated by the Coleridge Initiative. Only summarized data that meets NASS disclosure standards will leave the data enclave.

The summarized data is scheduled to be published in late 2023.

2021 Survey:

Survey design February 2022 – June 2022

Sample selection June 2022

Questionnaire design February 2022 – June 2022

Mail Survey mid-July 2022

Phone Follow-up mid-September – October 2022

End of Data Collection October 31, 2022

Data Analysis November 2022 – November

2023

Publication December 2023

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

No approval is requested for non-display of the expiration date.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19, “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions” of OMB Form 83-I.

There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

May 2022

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