[Federal Register: January 11, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 7)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 1300]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr11ja07-21]
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Proposed Rules
Federal Register
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This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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[[Page 1300]]
FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION
12 CFR Part 613
RIN 3052-AC33
Eligibility and Scope of Financing; Processing and Marketing
AGENCY: Farm Credit Administration.
ACTION: Proposed rule; reopening of comment period.
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SUMMARY: The Farm Credit Administration (FCA, Agency, or we) Board
reopens the comment period for 45 days following the date of
publication in the Federal Register on the proposed rule to amend its
regulation governing financing of processing and marketing operations
by Farm Credit System (Farm Credit, FCS, or System) institutions under
titles I and II of the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended (Act), so
that interested parties will have additional time to provide comments.
DATES: Please send your comments to us on or before February 26, 2007.
ADDRESSES: We offer a variety of methods to receive your comments. For
accuracy and efficiency reasons, commenters are encouraged to submit
comments by e-mail or through the Agency's Web site or the Federal
eRulemaking Portal. As faxes are difficult for us to process and
achieve compliance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, please
consider another means to submit your comment if possible.
Regardless of the method you use, please do not submit your comment
multiple times via different methods. You may submit comments by any of
the following methods:
E-mail: Send us an e-mail at reg-comm@fca.gov.
Agency Web site: http://www.fca.gov. Select ``Legal
Info,'' then ``Pending Regulations and Notices.''
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: Gary K. Van Meter, Deputy Director, Office of
Regulatory Policy, Farm Credit Administration, 1501 Farm Credit Drive,
McLean, VA 22102-5090.
FAX: (703) 883-4477. Posting and processing of faxes may
be delayed. Please consider another means to comment, if possible.
You may review copies of comments we received at our office in
McLean, Virginia, or from our Web site at http://www.fca.gov. Once you
are in the Web site, select ``Legal Info,'' and then select ``Public
Comments.'' We will show your comments as submitted, but for technical
reasons we may omit items such as logos and special characters.
Identifying information that you provide, such as phone numbers and
addresses, will be publicly available. However, we will attempt to
remove e-mail addresses to help reduce Internet spam.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Barry Mardock, Associate Director, Office of Regulatory Policy, Farm
Credit Administration, 1501 Farm Credit Drive, McLean, VA, (703) 883-
4456, TTY (703) 883-4434; or
Michael A. Anderson, Policy Analyst, Office of Regulatory Policy, Farm
Credit Administration, Denver, CO, (303) 696-9737; or
Howard I. Rubin, Senior Counsel, Office of General Counsel, Farm Credit
Administration, McLean, VA 22102-5090, (703) 883-4029, TTY (703) 883-
4020.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 16, 2006, FCA published a
proposed rule in the Federal Register to amend its regulations in part
613 governing financing of processing and marketing operations by
System institutions under titles I and II of the Farm Credit Act of
1971, as amended (Act). See 71 FR 60678. Specifically, this proposal
would add additional specific criteria to determine eligibility of
legal entities for financing as processing and marketing operations.
The Agency further proposed a non-substantive technical correction to
its regulation defining the term ``person''. The comment period closed
on December 15, 2006. In letters dated December 15, 2006, the
Independent Community Bankers of America, Independent Bankers of
Colorado, Nebraska Independent Community Bankers, Independent Bankers
Association of Texas, and Financial Services Roundtable requested the
FCA to extend the comment period for at least 90 days because of the
breadth and complexity of the proposed rule. On December 19, 2006, the
Farm Credit Council filed an opposition to the request for extension of
comment period, stating that the proposed rule is of ``vital importance
to America's farmers and ranchers,'' that ``ample time'' has already
been provided to interested parties to review and comment and that any
additional comment period should not extend past January 15, 2007. The
commenters requesting an extension asserted that the proposed rule will
significantly expand the lending authority of FCS institutions to
include virtually all commercial enterprises, up to and including
WalMart. Such a wide scale expansion of lending authority is not the
intent of the proposed rule. Instead, as discussed at length in the
preamble to the proposed rule, the intent of the amended rule is to
better ensure that FCS institutions are meeting their statutory mandate
to provide necessary credit to bona fide farmers and ranchers for their
processing and marketing needs in light of changing ownership
structures in the modern agricultural economy. In their written
comments on the proposed rule, many FCS institutions submitted examples
of family farm operations (that already borrow from FCS lenders) that
cannot obtain FCS credit for their processing and marketing operations
under current FCA rules because of the way ownership of the processing
or marketing operation is structured.
Because the FCA supports public involvement and participation in
its regulatory process, we are reopening the comment period for 45 days
and invite and encourage all interested parties to submit constructive
and specific suggestions on ways our proposed rule can be improved to
better meet our goal of ensuring that all bona fide farmers and
ranchers have access to FCS credit for their processing and marketing
needs in accordance with the Act.
Dated: January 5, 2007.
James M. Morris,
Acting Secretary, Farm Credit Administration Board.
[FR Doc. E7-221 Filed 1-10-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6705-01-P