The U.S. Department of Agriculture is reopening the comment period on a proposal to modify the marketing order regulating the handling of California almonds. The marketing order was established in 1950 and authorizes the Almond Board of California to conduct research and promotion initiatives, establish minimum quality requirements, and implement volume control for almonds grown in California.
During the initial comment period, USDA received comments on the formulation of the recommendation for rulemaking of the credit-back administrative requirements provision of the proposal. In response to these comments, USDA will extend the comment period for an additional 15 days to allow those affected by the rulemaking to weigh in on the proposed recommendation of the credit-back provision.
The proposed rule for this action was published in the Federal Register on Feb. 22, 2022. The comment period will be reopened, and all comments must be received by July 7, 2022.
Interested parties can post comments concerning the proposed modification of handling regulations at www.regulations.gov or email them to MarketingOrderComment@usda.gov. All comments submitted by the deadline will be made available for public review and will be considered before a final rule is published.
More information about the marketing order regulating the handling of almonds grown in California is available on the 981 California Almonds webpage.
Authorized by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, marketing orders are industry-driven programs that help producers and handlers achieve marketing success by leveraging their own funds to design and execute programs that they would not be able to do individually. AMS provides oversight to 27 fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop marketing orders and agreements, which helps ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.
More information about federal marketing orders is available on the Marketing Orders and Agreements webpage or by contacting the Market Development Division at (202) 720-2491.
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