The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) seeks public comment on a new Inspection Technology Evaluation (ITE) process to facilitate the use of innovative and improved technology for official grain inspection.

The proposed ITE focuses on the need and suitability of new technology to promote competition and transparency for official grain inspection. AMS currently evaluates and approves technology for use on a case-by-case basis. By instituting a new process, AMS can more efficiently evaluate new technology options.

Docket Number: AMS-FGIS-22-0019
Comments Due: September 9, 2022

Summary

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) currently evaluates and approves technology for use in official grain inspection on a case-by-case basis. AMS proposes a new internal process that is meant to facilitate the introduction of new and improved inspection technology that promotes competition and transparency. AMS is seeking public comment on the proposed process.

Submit Comments

The Alaska Local Food Purchase Program (AFLPP) will provide grant funding for purchase of locally grown and produced foods from farmers in Alaska.

Docket Number: AMS-SC-22-0039
Dates: 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will conduct a referendum Sept. 1 through Oct. 3, 2022, for South Texas onion producers to vote on whether to continue their federal marketing order. Producers who produced onions within South Texas during the period of Aug. 1, 2020, through July 31, 2021, are eligible to vote. Notice of the referendum was published in the Federal Register on July 8, 2022.

Northeast Region

• Connecticut – Monica Pacheco, monica.pacheco@ct.gov

Mid-Atlantic Region

• New Jersey - Nicole Broadwater - nicole.broadwater@ag.nj.gov
• Pennsylvania – Caryn Long Earl, cearl@pa.gov
• Virginia – Bee Thorp, Brittany.thorp@doe.virginia.g

The Oklahoma Local Farmers Programs for Underserved Populations will provide outreach and target socially disadvantaged farmers and producers to provide local foods to underserved communities. The goal is to identify socially disadvantaged farmers and producers and provide an opportunity for them to distribute food products to local communities and therefore expand economic development, not only for the producer, but for the communities they serve.