0005 - Livestock Slaughter 2014 - SSA - Revised

1Supporting Statement – Part A

LIVESTOCK SLAUGHTER

OMB No. 0535-0005

JUSTIFICATION

This submission is a renewal request for approval of this long-running information collection for an additional 3 years. There are only minor changes in the survey program, mostly updating universe/sample sizes after list frame maintenance.

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary. Identify any legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the collection. Attach a copy of the appropriate section of each statute and regulation mandating or authorizing the collection of information.

The primary functions of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) are to prepare and issue State and national estimates of crop and livestock production, disposition, and prices and to collect information on related environmental and economic factors.

This docket contains the two non-probability livestock slaughter surveys conducted by NASS: Federally-Inspected and Non-Federally-Inspected livestock slaughter plants. The FI survey is mandatory. The NFI survey is mandatory for some portion of NFI plants in some states according to state laws; participation of the remainder of NFI plants in the survey is voluntary.

Information collected from both types of plants are combined to estimate total red meat production, consisting of the number of head slaughtered plus live weights of cattle, calves, hogs, sheep, goats and bison. Knowing total red meat production, the number of head slaughtered, and live weights allow the industry to prepare and address issues related to supply and pricing. The data are also used at the end of the year to confirm production and disposition information for livestock estimates made during the year.

General authority for these data collection activities is granted under U.S. Code Title 7, Section 2204(a) which specifies that "The Secretary of Agriculture shall procure and preserve all information concerning statistics ... and shall distribute them among agriculturists."

2. Indicate how, by whom, and for what purpose the information is to be used. Except for a new collection, indicate the actual use the agency has made of the information received from the current collection.

Federally-Inspected livestock slaughter (FI) is reported under a cooperative arrangement between USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and NASS. FSIS fulfills its responsibilities mandated by the Federal Meat Inspection Act (U.S. Code Title 21, Sections 620 and 661) by collecting daily slaughter data from all Federally-Inspected plants.

Non-Federally-Inspected livestock slaughter (NFI) data is collected by NASS Regional Field Offices from State inspection agencies and/or by conducting a mail survey. Each office is responsible for maintaining a list frame of all slaughter plants that are not inspected by FSIS or the State so that they can be contacted.

NASS obtains the daily FI data, combines it with the monthly NFI data, and publishes a monthly commercial slaughter report. These published data are used by the United States Department of Agriculture, other Federal and State agencies, and the livestock industry, in combination with data from other NASS livestock surveys, to project future meat supplies and producer prices. Agricultural economists in both the public and private sectors also use this information in economic analysis and research.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g. ,permitting electronic submission of responses, and the basis for the decision for adopting this means of collection. Also describe any consideration of using information technology to reduce burden.

FI plants report head slaughtered and live and dressed weight to FSIS using software designed specifically for and by FSIS for FSIS purposes. NASS obtains this previously reported FI plant information from FSIS, eliminating the need for new data collection.

For the NFI portion of the monthly slaughter estimates, web-based reporting is available as a response mode (in addition to telephone and paper instruments). It is estimated that about 20 of 2,200 NFI respondents will use the web option. Total percentage of electronic responses is estimated at (900 FI + 20 NFI) / (900 + 2,200) = 30.0% (see table in A.12 for sample size figures).

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication. Show specifically why any similar information already available cannot be used or modified for use for the purposes described in Item 2 above.

These surveys meet both State and Federal needs, thus eliminating duplication and minimizing reporting burden on the livestock industry. The data are not available from any other source. NASS receives notification of new grants and withdrawals from FSIS to prevent duplication of data reporting.

5. If the collection of information impacts small businesses or other small entities (Item 5 of OMB Form 83-I), describe any methods used to minimize burden.

Small custom slaughter plants are generally NFI. The data for these plants are collected either from State inspection agencies or through the monthly NFI Slaughter Report. The data collected through the monthly NFI Slaughter Report may allow for reporting multiple months on a report, thereby reducing the number of contacts. Moreover, information requested on the livestock slaughter surveys can be provided with a minimum of difficulty by operators, generally from normal operating records.

6. Describe the consequence to Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently, as well as any technical or legal obstacles to reducing burden.

Collecting data less frequently would eliminate data that is needed by the Department of Agriculture, markets, and the livestock industry to keep abreast of changes at the State and National level. The Food Safety and Inspection Service are required by law to collect slaughter data from all Federally-Inspected plants each week. Timing and frequency of the various reports have evolved to meet the needs of producers, agribusinesses, and government agencies, yet minimize burden on the reporting public.

7. Explain any special circumstances that would cause an information collection to be conducted in a manner (inconsistent with the general information guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5):

• requiring respondents to report information to the agency more often than quarterly;

• requiring respondents to prepare a written response to a collection of information in fewer than 30 days after receipt of it; . . .

Data collection plans require a segment of the respondents to prepare a written response within 30 days of receipt and to respond weekly or monthly in order to comply with the Federal Meat Inspection Act (U.S. Code Title 21, Sections 620 and 661) and to publish the releases on time. The government and industry depend on these publication dates to make policy and business decisions. There are no other special circumstances associated with this survey.

8. Provide a copy and identify the date and page number of publication in the Federal Register of the agency's notice, required by 5 CFR 1320.8 (d), soliciting comments on the information collection prior to submission to OMB. Summarize public comments received in response to that notice and describe actions taken by the agency in response to these comments.

The Federal Register Notice soliciting comments was published on May 16, 2014, in Vol. 79, Number 95, on page 28480. NASS received two public comments, one from Dennis Fixler, Chief Statistician for the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the Department of Commerce, strongly supporting this collection and one from Ms. Jean Public opposing this collection.

Describe efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

Statisticians from NASS Regional Field Offices (RFO’s) and Headquarters attend numerous meetings throughout the year to explain the crop and livestock estimating programs. These meetings frequently provide feedback on data needs and suggested program improvements. NASS regularly holds data user meetings across the country to solicit comments about its surveys. NASS works closely with FSIS and AMS to keep the slaughter survey instruments current and relevant.

9. Explain any decision to provide any payment or gift to respondents.

There are no payments or gifts to respondents.

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for the assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

Questionnaires include a statement that individual reports are kept confidential. U.S. Code Title 18, Section 1905 and U.S. Code Title 7, Section 2276 provide for the confidentiality of reported information. All employees of NASS and all enumerators hired and supervised under a cooperative agreement with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) must read the regulations and sign a statement of compliance

Additionally, NASS and NASS contractors comply with OMB Implementation Guidance, “Implementation Guidance for Title V of the E-Government Act, Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA), (Public Law 107-347). CIPSEA supports NASS’ pledge of confidentiality to all respondents and facilitates the agency’s efforts to reduce burden by supporting statistical activities of collaborative agencies through designation of NASS agents; subject to the limitations and penalties described in CIPSEA.

The following CIPSEA Pledge statement will appear on all future NASS questionnaires.

The information you provide will be used for statistical purposes only. In accordance with the Confidential Information Protection provisions of Title V, Subtitle A, Public Law 107–347 and other applicable Federal laws, your responses will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed in identifiable form to anyone other than employees or agents. By law, every employee and agent has taken an oath and is subject to a jail term, a fine, or both if he or she willfully discloses ANY identifiable information about you or your operation.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature.

There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

12. Provide estimates of the hour burden of the collection of information. The statement should indicate the number of respondents, frequency of response, annual hour burden, and an explanation of how the burden was estimated. If this request for approval covers more than one form, provide separate hour burden estimates for each form and aggregate the hour burdens in Item 13 of OMB Form 83-I.

Total hours of burden are based on calculations shown in the following table. The average minutes per response are based on previous data collections. See table in Item B.1 for source of estimated counts. The Federally inspected plants account for over 98% of all livestock slaughtered.

Cost to the public of completing the questionnaire is assumed to be comparable to the hourly rate of those requesting the data. Reporting time of 2,504 hours is multiplied by $23 per hour for a total cost to the public of $57,592.00. NASS regularly checks the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics. Mean wage rates for bookkeepers, farm managers, and farm supervisors are averaged to obtain the wage for the burden cost. The May, 2012 mean wage for bookkeepers is $17.91. The mean wage for buyers and agents of farm products is $29.07. The mean wage of the two is $23.49.

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to respondents or record keepers resulting from the collection of information.

There are no capital/start-up or ongoing operation/maintenance costs associated with this information collection.

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government; provide a description of the method used to estimate cost which should include quantification of hours, operational expenses (equipment, overhead, printing, and staff), and any other expense that would not have been incurred without this collection of information.

The total cost to the Federal government for the livestock slaughter surveys is estimated at $800,000. Virtually all of the costs are personnel costs associated with data collection and review. Other costs include postage (with no postage for FI), computer processing, summarization, and printing. The reduction in costs from the previous $1.0 million three years ago is due to several factors. Some States have better administrative data available to them and some States have moved their small slaughter plants from monthly to either quarterly or annual surveys.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments reported in Items 13 or 14 of the OMB Form 83-I (reasons for changes in burden).

The response burden hours increased from 1,687 hours to 2,504 hours and the annual number of responses decreased from 69,200 to 11,800 due to agency adjustments. Two primary factors impacted this increase in burden hours. The number of NFI plants contacted by NASS increased from 1,100 to approximately 1,300 plants. The average amount of time it takes to complete a NFI questionnaire has increased from 10 minutes to approximately 15 minutes per questionnaire. The primary cause in the decrease of the annual number of responses is due to the correction of a mistake. In the previously approved ICR, NASS erroneously included FI responses in the summary of burden calculation while this ICR renewal only counts NFI responses.

16. For collections of information whose results will be published, outline plans for tabulation and publication. Address any complex analytical techniques that will be used. Provide the time schedule for the entire project, including beginning and ending dates of the collection of information, completion of report, publication dates, and other actions.

This docket contains the two non-probability livestock slaughter surveys conducted by NASS: Federally-Inspected (FI) and Non-Federally-Inspected (NFI) slaughter. The combined information collected from plants is used to estimate total red meat production consisting of the number of head slaughtered plus live and dressed weights of cattle, calves, hogs, sheep, goats and bison. It is also used in preparing production, disposition, and income statistics.

FI livestock slaughter data are reported under a cooperative arrangement between USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), and NASS. FSIS Federal meat inspectors are responsible for compiling daily FI plant data comparable to Weekly Livestock Slaughter Report and submitting that data to FSIS which then shares the data with NASS. NASS imputes data for any plants not included in the FSIS totals based on historical data for that plant or current data from plants of similar capacity, then accumulates FI head slaughtered, live weight, and dressed weight by species and class to monthly totals for summarization with NFI totals.

NFI slaughter is collected by NASS regional field offices from State inspection agencies by using the monthly Slaughter Report printed questionnaire or Web-based questionnaire. Each regional office is responsible for maintaining a list frame of all slaughter plants that are not inspected by FSIS or the State, if applicable. NASS statisticians review the NFI reports for reasonableness prior to transmitting the data to NASS Headquarters. The combined FI/NFI summary gives commercial slaughter of cattle, calves, hogs, sheep, goats and bison in the U.S. It is also used to derive total red meat production and prepare production, disposition, and income statistics.

Weekly slaughter totals are published by AMS in Livestock, Meat, & Grain Highlights.

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/nationalweeklysummaryreports.

NASS publishes slaughter totals and commercial red meat production monthly in Livestock Slaughter, reached from NASS Web-site at nass.usda.gov or directly by URL

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1096.

NASS publishes the Livestock Slaughter, Annual Summary in April of each year.

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1097.

In addition, Meat Animals Production, Disposition, and Income are published each April, and it uses the slaughter data to calculate total marketing’s.

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/MannUsda/viewDocumentInfo.do?documentID=1101.

Data Collection and Publication
Livestock Slaughter	Data Collection		Publication	Release Date(s)
	Freq.	Collection Period
Federally Inspected Surveys *	52	Weekly	Weekly Livestock, Meat & Grain Highlights	Each Thursday
			Livestock Slaughter	Monthly
			Livestock Slaughter Annual Summary	April
			Meat Animals Production, Disposition, and Income	April
Non-Federally Inspected Surveys *	12	Monthly	Livestock Slaughter	Monthly
			Livestock Slaughter Annual Summary	April
			Meat Animals Production, Disposition, and Income	April
* The Federally inspected data and Non-Federally inspected data are collected at a different frequency, but the data is combined in the same monthly and annual publications.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons that display would be inappropriate.

No approval is requested for non-display of the expiration date.

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19, “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions” of OMB Form 83-I.

There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

August, 2014

Revised October, 2014