Notice2025-16831
Discontinuance of Information Collections
Primary source
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Published
September 3, 2025
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentNational Agricultural Statistics Service
Abstract
This notice announces the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) has discontinued the information collection for both the Mink Survey (OMB Control Number 0535-0212) and the Agricultural Labor Survey (OMB Control Number 0535-0109), as these collections are deemed duplicative and/or no longer necessary. This action is taken under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) as part of the government's efforts to improve efficiency and eliminate unnecessary burdens.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 168 (Wednesday, September 3, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 168 (Wednesday, September 3, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42560-42562]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-16831]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
National Agricultural Statistics Service
Discontinuance of Information Collections
AGENCY: National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the National Agricultural Statistics
Service (NASS) has discontinued the information collection for both the
Mink Survey (OMB Control Number 0535-0212) and the Agricultural Labor
Survey (OMB Control Number 0535-0109), as these collections are deemed
duplicative and/or no longer necessary. This action is taken under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) as part of the
government's efforts to improve efficiency and eliminate unnecessary
burdens.
DATES: The discontinuation date for both collections is August 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jody McDaniel, Acting Associate
Administrator, National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, (202) 720-2707. Copies of this information
collection and related instructions can be obtained without charge from
Margaret Noonan, NASS--OMB Clearance Officer, at (202) 720-2206 or at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0c63616e636a6a656f697e4c626d7f7f22797f686d226b637a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="355a58575a53535c565047755b5446461b404651541b525a43">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Mink Survey
Title: Mink Survey. OMB Control Number: 0535-0212.
Abstract: Since 1970, NASS has annually collected data related to
minks, including pelt production, females bred, and sales. This
collection, previously important for understanding the U.S. mink
industry, has been discontinued with approval from the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB).
[[Page 42561]]
Discontinuation Justification:USDA found the discontinuation of the
survey was justified for each of the following reasons:
No statutory requirement: The USDA is not required by statute to
conduct or publish the Mink Survey, nor has it always done so annually.
Availability of other data sources: While some persons may have
elected to use the survey data, it is not necessary for the USDA to
carry out its statutory obligations. For those who may have found the
data valuable, the Census of Agriculture--conducted every five years--
includes questions on the number of live mink and pelts sold, ensuring
this information is still collected regularly.
Industry Decline: The U.S. mink industry has significantly
decreased in size since the survey's inception. In 1969, 5,455,000
pelts were produced, which dropped to just 771,200 in 2024. The
geographic distribution of production has also narrowed, with state-
level data now publishable for only five states, down from 15 in 1970.
USDA has determined it is not required or prudent to conduct the
mink survey and has discontinued information collection for OMB Control
Number 0535-0212.
II. Agricultural Labor Survey (FLS)
Title: Agricultural Labor Survey (FLS).
OMB Control Number: 0535-0109.
Abstract: For decades, NASS conducted the Agricultural Labor Survey
(FLS) to measure farm wages nationally. The USDA has now discontinued
this survey, with approval from the OMB, as recent improvements to the
Department of Labor (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational
Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program make the OEWS the
superior barometer for measuring farm wages.
Discontinuation Justification: USDA found the discontinuation of
the survey is justified for each of the following reasons:
No statutory requirement: Although USDA has used FLS data for
various actions in the past, those purposes can be fulfilled by relying
on other available sources of data, such as the OEWS program. This
would minimize duplication of Federal efforts and reduce cost and time
burdens to the public.
Availability of other data sources: The OEWS will provide more
useful data: The FLS is a dated survey, whose origins trace to the 19th
century. The FLS was not designed for the current state of agriculture
or labor.
The FLS only collects information directly from farmers and does
not capture information from farm labor contractors. Given the shortage
of domestic labor and the complex process to navigate visa programs for
foreign workers, more and more farmers rely on farm labor contractors
to supply their workforce. Data from farm labor contractors is
collected by the OEWS. This is one of several reasons why the OEWS has
surpassed the FLS as the best available tool for measuring farm wages
on a nationwide basis.
The supporting statement included in the Paperwork Reduction Act
(PRA) Information Collection Request package for the FLS, submitted to
OMB on July 25, 2024, noted that the Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1938
requires USDA to compute parity prices of farm products. To compute
these parity prices, USDA uses an index of prices paid by farmers which
is composed of five indexes, one of which is an index of wage rates.
Historically, USDA has used FLS data as the information source for the
index of wage rates; however, USDA will use enhanced OEWS data as the
source for this index.
The 2024 supporting statement at p. 1 also refers to the DOL's use
of FLS data in calculating a government-mandated minimum wage rate when
foreign temporary labor is employed pursuant to a visa program known as
H-2A. DOL, however, has computed this rate, known as the Adverse Effect
Wage Rate (AEWR), without the FLS in the past. To illustrate, DOL in
rulemaking reported that the use of the FLS, coinciding with an
increase in illegal immigration, had diminished its utility for AEWR
purposes: ``The Department chose at that time to use USDA data to set
AEWRs largely because it believed that USDA's aggregation of wage data
at broad regional levels would immunize the survey from the effects of
any localized wage depression that might exist. 54 FR 28043. As
discussed above, however, undocumented workers are substantially more
dispersed throughout the agricultural sector today than they were in
1989. Not only are undocumented workers no longer confined to
particularized local labor markets, but recent studies have also called
into question whether the concentration of undocumented workers in
particular labor markets actually causes localized wage depression. In
light of these developments, the one key advantage the Department
believed in 1989 was afforded by the USDA survey's broadly aggregated
data--its ability to avoid localized wage depression effects--has been
substantially diminished. On the other hand, the fact that undocumented
workers have come to dominate the agricultural labor force in the
intervening years has rendered the imprecision of USDA wage data vis-
[agrave]-vis local labor market conditions a substantial drawback that
may sometimes actually encourage employers to hire undocumented
workers. In fact, the Department expressed concern in the 1989
rulemaking that precisely this phenomenon might develop, stating that
``AEWRs, if set too high, might be a disincentive to the use of H-2A
workers and U.S. workers, and could undermine efforts to eradicate the
employment of illegal aliens. 54 FR 28044. Many commenters argued that
the large numbers of undocumented workers in the agricultural sector
adversely affects U.S. workers. Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-
2A Aliens in the United States; Modernizing the Labor Certification
Process and Enforcement, 73 FR 77172-77173 (Dec. 18, 2008).
For a brief period beginning in 2008, until a change in the
administration, DOL then engaged in rulemaking to replace its use of
the FLS data with the DOL's OEWS data:
(g) The Department's Decision To Use the Occupational Employment
Statistics Survey
Having determined that the Department [of Labor] can best safeguard
the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers from adverse effect by
encouraging employers to replace undocumented workers with either U.S.
workers or H-2A workers, and having further determined that tailoring
AEWRs to local labor market conditions is the best way to foster this
replacement process, the Department made two independent decisions.
First, the Department decided to use the BLS OES survey to set AEWRs,
rather than the USDA Farm Labor Survey (FLS). Second, the Department
decided to attain further precision in setting AEWRs by breaking the
OES wage rates down into four different skill levels, rather than using
a single average OES wage rate for each agricultural occupation. 73 FR
77173 (emphasis added).
The 2024 supporting statement at p. 1 also notes that the FLS had
been funded by DOL (reflecting USDA's determination that the FLS was
not needed), but after 2021 DOL discontinued funding the FLS.
Further, in 2023 rulemaking, DOL reported that the FLS did not
capture wages for all occupations and some states lacked FLS data. 88
FR 12760, (Feb. 28, 2023). DOL thus approved and
[[Page 42562]]
provided for the use of its OEWS data to calculate the AEWR if FLS data
is not available. Id. DOL thus confirmed that it can employ its OEWS as
a substitute for the FLS.
USDA is not required by statute to rely on the FLS to collect data
measuring farm labor wages. USDA has determined it is not required or
prudent to conduct the FLS and has discontinued information collection
for OMB Control Number 0535-0109. USDA's scarce resources must be
reallocated to activities that are required by statute and useful to
the Department and its customers. Substitutes like DOL's OEWS are
available to supplant the FLS to the extent other agencies use the data
for purposes other than that for which it was originally conceived in
the 19th century. To the extent any request is received for legacy
data, USDA will work to make FLS legacy data available as much as
possible.
Jody McDaniel,
Acting Associate Administrator, National Agricultural Statistics
Service.
[FR Doc. 2025-16831 Filed 8-29-25; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-20-P
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