Olives Grown in California; Decreased Assessment Rate

Issuing agencies

Abstract

This final rule implements a recommendation from the California Olive Committee (Committee) to decrease the assessment rate established for the 2025 and subsequent fiscal years from $28 to $24 per ton of assessable olives grown in California. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 165 (Thursday, August 27, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 165 (Thursday, August 27, 2026)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 55241-55244]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-17511]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

7 CFR Part 932

[Doc. No. AMS-SC-25-0002]


Olives Grown in California; Decreased Assessment Rate

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This final rule implements a recommendation from the 
California Olive Committee (Committee) to decrease the assessment rate 
established for the 2025 and subsequent fiscal years from $28 to $24 
per ton of assessable olives grown in California. The assessment rate 
will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or 
terminated.

DATES: Effective September 28, 2026.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffery Rymer, Marketing Specialist, 
or Abigail Maharaj, Chief, West Region Branch, Market Development 
Division, Specialty Crops Program, AMS, USDA;

[[Page 55242]]

telephone: (559) 487-5901; or email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1c56797a7a796e6571324e6571796e5c696f787d327b736a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a1ebc4c7c7c4d3d8cc8ff3d8ccc4d3e1d4d2c5c08fc6ced7">[email&#160;protected]</span></a> or 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a4e5c6cdc3c5cdc88ae9c5ccc5d6c5cee4d1d7c0c58ac3cbd2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="3c7d5e555b5d555012715d545d4e5d567c494f585d125b534a">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This action, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553, 
amends regulations issued to carry out a marketing order as defined in 
7 CFR 900.2(j). This final rule is issued under the Agricultural 
Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as amended (7 U.S.C. 601-674) (the 
Act), amending Marketing Order No. 932 (7 CFR part 932; the Order), 
regulating the handling of olives grown in California. The Committee 
locally administers the Order and is comprised of producers and 
handlers of olives operating within the area of production.
    This action is exempt from the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) review process required by Executive Order 12866. This final rule 
amends existing Marketing Order No. 932, as amended (7 CFR part 932), 
Olives Grown in California, and is necessary for the continued 
operation of Marketing Order No. 932. Additionally, this action is 
exempt from the requirements of Executive Order 14192, ``Unleashing 
Prosperity Through Deregulation,'' pursuant to section 5(c).
    This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 13175, 
``Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments, '' 
which requires Federal agencies to consider whether their rulemaking 
actions would have Tribal implications. The Agricultural Marketing 
Service (AMS) has determined that this final rule is unlikely to have 
substantial direct effects on one or more Indian Tribes, on the 
relationship between the Federal Government and Indian Tribes, or on 
the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal 
Government and Indian Tribes.
    This final rule has been reviewed under Executive Order 12988, 
``Civil Justice Reform.'' Under the Order now in effect, California 
olive handlers are subject to assessments. Funds to administer the 
Order are derived from such assessments. It is intended that the 
assessment rate will be applicable to all assessable olives for the 
2025 fiscal year, and continue until amended, suspended, or terminated.
    The Act provides that administrative proceedings must be exhausted 
before parties may file suit in court. Under section 608(c)(15)(A) of 
the Act, any handler subject to an order may file with U.S. Department 
of Agriculture (USDA) a petition stating that the order, any provision 
of the order, or any obligation imposed in connection with the order is 
not in accordance with law and request a modification of the order or 
to be exempted therefrom. Such handler is afforded the opportunity for 
a hearing on the petition. After the hearing, USDA would rule on the 
petition. The Act provides that the district court of the United States 
in any district in which the handler is an inhabitant, or has his or 
her principal place of business, has jurisdiction to review USDA's 
ruling on the petition, provided an action is filed not later than 20 
days after the date of the entry of the ruling.
    This final rule decreases the assessment rate for assessable olives 
handled under the Order from $28 to $24 per ton for the 2025 and 
subsequent fiscal years.
    Sections 932.38 and 932.39 of the Order authorize the Committee, 
with the approval of AMS, to formulate an annual budget of expenses and 
collect assessments from handlers to administer the program. The 
members of the Committee are familiar with the Committee's needs and 
with the costs of goods and services in their local area and can 
formulate an appropriate budget and assessment rate. The assessment 
rate is formulated and discussed in a public meeting, and all directly 
affected persons have an opportunity to participate and provide input.
    For the 2024 and subsequent fiscal years, the Committee 
recommended, and AMS approved, an assessment rate of $28 per ton of 
assessable olives within the production area. That rate continues in 
effect from fiscal year to fiscal year until modified, suspended, or 
terminated by AMS upon recommendation and information submitted by the 
Committee or other information available to AMS.
    The Committee met on December 19, 2024, and unanimously 
recommended, with a vote of 15 in favor and none opposed, 2025 fiscal 
year expenditures of $1,174,697 and an assessment rate of $24 per ton 
of assessed olives handled for the 2025 and subsequent fiscal years. In 
comparison, the 2024 fiscal year's budgeted expenditures were 
$1,100,151. The assessment rate of $24 per ton is $4 lower than the 
rate currently in effect. Although the recommended 2025 fiscal year 
expenditures are higher than those in 2024, the Committee recommended 
decreasing the assessment rate due to the significantly higher crop 
size in 2024 (fruit that is marketed over the course of the 2025 fiscal 
year), and the need to maintain its reserve funds within a level 
authorized under the Order. The Committee estimated approximately 
48,560 tons of olives from the 2024 crop year that would be assessable 
during the 2025 fiscal year. This amount is substantially higher than 
the 34,000 tons of olives that were harvested in 2023.
    Olives harvested in 2024 will be marketed over the course of the 
2025 fiscal year, which began on January 1, 2025, as the harvested 
olives are stored in brining tanks and processed over the subsequent 
year. The 48,560 tons of assessable olives from the 2024 crop would 
generate $1,165,440 (48,560 tons multiplied by $24 assessment rate) in 
assessment revenue over the 2025 fiscal year at the new assessment 
rate. The balance of funds needed to cover budgeted expenditures would 
come from the interest income and the Committee's financial reserve. 
The 2025 fiscal year assessment rate decrease is appropriate to ensure 
the Committee has sufficient revenue to fund the recommended 2025 
fiscal year budgeted expenditures while also ensuring that funds in the 
reserve do not exceed approximately one fiscal year's expenses, the 
maximum reserve amount permitted by 7 CFR 932.40.
    The Order has a fiscal year and a crop year that are independent of 
each other. The crop year is a 12-month year that begins on August 1 of 
each year and ends on July 31 of the following year. The fiscal year is 
the 12-month period that begins on January 1 and ends on December 31 of 
each year. Olives are an alternate-bearing crop, with a small crop 
(2023) followed by a large crop (2024). For this final rule, the 
Committee utilized the estimated 2024 crop year receipts to determine 
the recommended assessment rate for the 2025 fiscal year.
    The Committee derived the recommended assessment rate by 
considering anticipated fiscal year expenses, the expected volume of 
assessable olives, and the level of funds available in the authorized 
financial reserve. The expected 48,560 tons of assessable olives is 
expected to generate $1,165,440 in assessment revenue at the new 
assessment rate (48,560 tons multiplied by the $24 assessment rate). 
The income generated from handler assessments, along with reserve funds 
and interest income, will be sufficient to meet the Committee's 
estimated program expenditures of $1,174,697 for the 2025 fiscal year. 
Funds available in the financial reserve (currently about $1,723,008) 
will be kept within the maximum permitted by the Order (approximately 
one fiscal year's expenses as authorized by 7 CFR 932.40).
    The assessment rate will continue in effect indefinitely unless 
modified, suspended, or terminated by AMS upon recommendation and 
information

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submitted by the Committee or other available information. Although 
this assessment rate will be in effect for an indefinite period, the 
Committee will continue to meet prior to or during each fiscal year to 
recommend a budget of expenses and consider recommendations for 
modification of the assessment rate. The dates and times of Committee 
meetings are available from the Committee or AMS. Committee meetings 
are open to the public and interested persons may express their views 
at these meetings. AMS will evaluate Committee recommendations and 
other available information to determine whether modification of the 
assessment rate is needed. Further rulemaking would be undertaken as 
necessary. The Committee's 2025 fiscal year budget, and those for 
subsequent fiscal years, will be reviewed approved by AMS.

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    Pursuant to requirements set forth in the Regulatory Flexibility 
Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C. 601-612), AMS has considered the economic impact of 
this final rule on small entities. Accordingly, AMS has prepared this 
final regulatory flexibility analysis.
    The purpose of the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the scale of 
businesses subject to such actions in order that small businesses will 
not be unduly or disproportionately burdened. Marketing orders issued 
pursuant to the Act are unique regulations in that they are brought 
about through group action of typically small entities acting on their 
own behalf.
    The Small Business Administration (SBA) defines, in 13 CFR part 
121, small agricultural service firms, including handlers, as those 
whose average annual receipts are no greater than $34 million (North 
American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 115114, 
Postharvest Crop Activities). SBA defines small agricultural producers 
of olives as those having average annual receipts no greater than $3.5 
million (NAICS code 111339, Other Noncitrus Fruit Farming).
    According to the Committee, there are two handlers subject to 
regulation under the Order. The volume of olives produced in the 
production area--a two-year average of 31,520 tons for crop years 2023 
to 2024--would require large scale processing facilities for just two 
handlers to be able to process the entire California crop; therefore, 
it is likely that both handlers would exceed the SBA threshold of $34 
million in annual receipts, and therefore, not be considered small 
businesses under the SBA definition of a small firm engaging in 
postharvest crop activities.
    In the 2022 Census of Agriculture, the most recent to date, 
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reports the existence 
of 1,613 olive-farming operations in California totaling 41,828 bearing 
acres. To estimate the number olive growers that would be considered to 
be ``small'' per the SBA definition, AMS calculates the acreage 
required to produce the volume of olives at an average price to reach 
the $3.5 million threshold. Due to the alternate-bearing nature of 
olives, a two-year average is used to estimate price and yield, based 
on the most recent NASS data for 2023 and 2024.
    NASS reports 2023 and 2024 California grower prices for olives for 
canning at $1,080 per ton and $1,140 per ton, respectively. This 
results in a two-year average price received by California growers of 
olives for canning of $1,110 per ton ($1,080 plus $1,140, divided by 
2). Olive yields in California measured 3.04 tons per acre in 2023 and 
3.78 tons per acre in 2024, resulting in an average yield of 3.41 tons 
of olives per acre (3.04 tons plus 3.78 tons, divided by 2). These 
figures are utilized in the equations below to estimate the amount of 
acreage needed to produce the volume of olives sold at the average 
price to reach the SBA threshold of $3.5 million.
    Dividing the SBA threshold for a small olive grower of $3.5 million 
by the $1,110 per ton average grower received price and by the 
estimated average yield of 3.41 tons per acre results in approximately 
925 acres that would be required for an olive grower to reach $3.5 
million in annual receipts. Therefore, AMS concludes that an olive 
grower would need 926 bearing acres to be considered ``large'' per the 
SBA definition.
    According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, published by NASS in 
February 2024, of the 1,613 olive farms in California, four had bearing 
acreage between 750 and 999.9 acres, and three had bearing acreage 
equal to or exceeding 1,000 acres. This means that between 99.6 percent 
(1,613 minus 7 (4 plus 3), divided by 1,613) and 99.8 percent (1,613 
minus 3, divided by 1,613) of farms, or growers, would be considered to 
be small businesses under the SBA definition.
    This final rule decreases the assessment rate collected from 
handers for the 2025 fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years from $28 
to $24 per ton of assessable olives. The Committee unanimously 
recommended 2025 expenditures of $1,174,697 and an assessment rate of 
$24 per ton. The new assessment rate of $24 is $4 lower than the 2024 
assessment rate. The 2024 crop is estimated to be 48,560 tons. The $24 
per ton should provide $1,165,440 in assessment income (48,560 tons 
multiplied by $24 assessment rate). Income derived from handler 
assessments, along with interest income and funds from the authorized 
reserve, should be sufficient to cover budgeted expenses.
    The Committee deliberated on many of the expenses, weighed the 
relative value of various programs or projects, and decreased their 
expenses for inspection and marketing activities while increasing the 
expenses of their program administration and research activities. 
Overall, the 2025 budget of $1,174,697 is $74,546 more than the 
$1,100,151 budgeted for the 2024 fiscal year.
    Prior to arriving at this budget and assessment rate, the Committee 
considered information from various sources including the Committee's 
Executive, Marketing, Inspection, and Research Subcommittees. Alternate 
expenditure levels were discussed by these groups, based upon the 
relative value of various projects to the olive industry and the 
increased olive production. The assessment rate of $24 per ton of 
assessable olives was derived by considering anticipated expenses, the 
high volume of assessable olives, the current balance in the monetary 
reserve, and additional pertinent factors.
    A review of NASS historical and preliminary information indicates 
the two-year average producer price for California olives is 
approximately $1,180 per ton. Therefore, utilizing the recommended 
assessment rate of $24 per ton, assessment revenue for the 2024 fiscal 
year as a percentage of total producer revenue would be approximately 2 
percent ($24 divided by $1,180, multiplied by 100).
    This final rule decreases the assessment obligation imposed on 
handlers. Assessments are applied uniformly to all handlers. Some of 
the assessment costs to handlers may be passed on to producers. 
Decreasing the assessment rate reduces the burden on handlers and may 
also, therefore, reduce the burden on producers.
    Committee meetings are widely publicized throughout the production 
area and all interested persons are invited to attend the meetings and 
participate in Committee deliberations on all issues. Like all 
Committee meetings, the December 19, 2024, meeting was a public meeting 
and all entities, both large and small, were able to express views on 
this issue. Finally, interested persons were invited to

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submit comments on this rule, including the regulatory and information 
collection impacts of this action on small businesses.
    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
chapter 35), the Order's information collection requirements have been 
previously approved by OMB and assigned OMB No. 0581-0178, ``Vegetable 
and Specialty Crops.'' No changes in those requirements are necessary 
because of this final rule. Should any changes become necessary, they 
would be submitted to OMB for approval.
    This final rule will not impose any additional reporting or 
recordkeeping requirements on either small or large California olive 
handlers. As with all Federal marketing order programs, reports and 
forms are periodically reviewed to reduce information requirements and 
duplication by industry and public sector agencies.
    AMS is committed to complying with the E-Government Act, to promote 
the use of the internet and other information technologies to provide 
increased opportunities for citizen access to Government information 
and services, and for other purposes.
    AMS has not identified any relevant Federal rules that duplicate, 
overlap, or conflict with this final rule.
    A proposed rule concerning this action was published in the Federal 
Register on March 9, 2026 (91 FR 11184). Copies of the proposed rule 
were provided to all California olive handlers. In addition, the 
proposal was made available through the internet by AMS and the Office 
of the Federal Register via <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. A 30-day 
comment period ending April 8, 2026, was provided for interested 
persons to respond to the proposal. AMS received one comment during the 
comment period. The comment did not address the merits of the proposal. 
Accordingly, AMS made no changes to the rule as proposed.
    After consideration of all relevant material presented, including 
the information and recommendations submitted by the Committee and 
other available information, AMS has determined that this final rule is 
consistent with and effectuates the purposes of the Act.

List of Subjects in 7 CFR Part 932

    Marketing agreements, Olives, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, AMS amends 7 CFR part 
932 as follows:

PART 932--OLIVES GROWN IN CALIFORNIA

0
1. The authority citation for part 932 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 601-674.


0
2. Section 932.230 is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  932.230  Assessment rate.

    On and after January 1, 2025, an assessment rate of $24 per ton is 
established for California olives.

Erin Morris,
Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
[FR Doc. 2026-17511 Filed 8-26-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-02-P


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