The Agricultural Marketing Service seeks comments to inform an upcoming report that will assess the supply chains for the production of agricultural commodities and food products, it said in a notice released April 21. “We are particularly interested in comments addressing local and regional food systems, creating new market opportunities (including for value-added agriculture and value-added products), facilitating fair and competitive markets (including traceability and supply chain transparency), advancing efforts to transform the food system, meeting the needs of the agricultural workforce, supporting and promoting consumers’ nutrition security, particularly for low-income populations, and supporting the needs of socially disadvantaged and small to mid-sized producers and processors,” AMS said. Comments are due May 21.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced April 15 that Special Import Quota #26 for upland cotton will be established April 22, allowing importation of 8,126,524 kilograms (37,324 bales) of upland cotton, down from 8,408,469 kilograms (38,619 bales) in the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than July 20, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by Oct. 18, 2021. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the December 2020 through February 2021 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced April 8 that Special Import Quota #25 for upland cotton will be established April 15, allowing importation of 8,408,469 kilograms (38,619 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than July 13, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by Oct. 11, 2021. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the November 2020 through January 2021 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced April 1 that Special Import Quota #24 for upland cotton will be established April 8, allowing importation of 8,408,469 kilograms (38,619 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than July 6, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by Oct. 4, 2021. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the November 2020 through January 2021 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced March 25 that Special Import Quota #23 for upland cotton will be established April 1, allowing importation of 8,408,469 kilograms (38,619 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than June 29, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by Sept. 27, 2021. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the November 2020 through January 2021 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is adding India to its list of regions subject to import restrictions on pork and pork products because it is affected by African swine fever, it said in a notice released March 24. Restrictions take effect retroactively to May 13, 2020.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow the importation of peppers from Colombia, it said in a notice. Conditions for importation include packing requirements, phytosanitary certificates from the Colombian government, registration of production locations, and port of entry inspections, among other things, the notice said. Peppers from Colombia may be authorized for importation upon publication of the notice in the Federal Register March 25.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing to make changes to its National List of substances allowed and prohibited in organic products, it said in a notice released March 24. The proposed rule would “add potassium hypochlorite for pre-harvest use as a sanitizer in organic crop production and fatty alcohols for sucker control in organic tobacco production,” AMS said. “In addition, this rule proposes to remove the listing for dairy cultures, as it is redundant with an existing listing.” Comments are due May 24.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Commodity Credit Corporation announced March 18 that Special Import Quota #22 for upland cotton will be established March 25, allowing importation of 8,408,469 kilograms (38,619 bales) of upland cotton, the same as the previous quota period. The quota will apply to upland cotton purchased not later than June 22, 2021, and entered into the U.S. by Sept. 20, 2021. The quota is equivalent to one week's consumption of cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate for the November 2020 through January 2021 period, the most recent three months for which data is available.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced its Core PGA Message Set is now being fully enforced in ACE. “Users must submit message set data for regulated products like plants, plant products, animal products, and live dog imports or their entry will reject,” it said by email March 15. APHIS listed a “multitude” of resources that users may use as references: the APHIS ACE website, the APHIS Core Implementation Guide, the APHIS Supplemental Trade Guide, APHIS Core Message Set webinars, and its Harmonized Tariff Schedule flags. “Brokers, filers and importers may also contact the APHIS Core Message Set Help Desk at 1-833-481-2102, Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. to get assistance with their entry, or they can submit APHIS Core Message Set questions by e-mail to ace.itds@usda.gov,” APHIS said. The agency had been taking a soft enforcement approach since January (see 2101210035).