Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Farm Service Agency's (FSA) new rule on amendments to the peanut poundage quota regulations. GAO noted that: (1) the rule would implement the provisions of the Agricultural Market Transition Act of 1996 regarding the federal farm peanut poundage quotas for the 1996 through 2002 crops of peanuts; (2) the amendments adopted in this final rule principally involve: (a) eliminating the national poundage quota floor; (b) eliminating the undermarketing carryover provisions; (c) establishing temporary seed quota allocations; (d) establishing the ineligibility of certain farms for quota allocation; (e) authorizing the intercounty transfer of farm poundage quotas in all states, subject to certain limitations in some states; (f) eliminating the special allocations of increased quotas for certain Texas counties; (g) establishing new provisions for "considered produced" credit with respect to a farm whose quota has been transferred; and (h) other minor clarifying and technical changes; and (3) other than misclassifying the rule as a non-major rule when filing with GAO and failing to issue the modifications in time to permit the 60-day delay for congressional review, FSA complied with the applicable requirements in promulgating the rule.