SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions that were used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Title: WIC and Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Programs—Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden.

Form Numbers: FNA 683A and FNA 683B (under OMB Control Number 0584-0594, expiration date: 9/30/2026) are associated with this collection.

OMB Number: 0584-0447.

Expiration Date: August 31, 2027.

Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.

Abstract: With this revision to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) information collection request (ICR), FNA proposes to: (1) update the currently approved WIC FMNP burden estimates to reflect current program operations and data, and (2) merge the WIC FMNP burden estimates with the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) information collection activities currently approved under OMB Control Number 0584-0541. Upon this request's approval, FNA will maintain the WIC FMNP and SFMNP information collection activities under a single ICR, retaining OMB Control Number 0584-0447 and discontinuing OMB Control Number 0584-0541. The following sections describe the updates to the WIC FMNP estimates, rationale for merging the two ICRs, and the resulting combined burden estimates.

I. WIC FMNP Information Collection Activities

The WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) is associated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). WIC provides supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education at no cost to low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum participants, infants, and children up to five years of age at ( printed page 56831) nutritional risk. The purpose of WIC FMNP is to provide fresh, nutritious, unprepared, locally grown fruits and vegetables through farmers' markets and roadside stands to WIC participants, and to expand awareness and use of, and sales at, farmers' markets and roadside stands. FNA provides State agencies (including geographic States, Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) and U.S. territories) Federal grants to administer the program.

WIC FMNP statute (42 U.S.C. 1786(m)(8)) and regulations (7 CFR part 248) require the collection of certain program-related information from State and local agencies, participants, and farmers, farmers' markets, and roadside stands, and require that State agencies maintain full and complete records concerning program operations. These reporting and recordkeeping requirements are necessary to ensure appropriate and efficient management of the program. The burden activities that are covered by this ICR include requirements that involve the authorization and monitoring of local agencies; the certification of participants; the nutrition education that is provided to participants; farmer, farmers' market, and roadside stand authorization, training, monitoring, and management; and financial and participation data.

State Plans are the principal source of information about how each State agency operates WIC FMNP. State agencies enter and submit State Plan information to FNA through the Waivers and State Plans (WiSP) application. With the recent adoption of the WiSP application, the reporting and recordkeeping burdens associated with State agencies inputting and storing State Plan information that were previously covered in this ICR are now included in the WiSP ICR (OMB Control Number 0584-0704, expiration date: 12/31/2028). FNA expects that, beyond the burdens covered in the WiSP ICR, State agencies will spend additional time collecting information from local agencies and authorized outlets in preparation for their State Plan submissions, and therefore this ICR retains some State Plan-related reporting burden.

Information from participants and local agencies is collected through State agency-developed forms or Management Information Systems. FNA uses the collected information to manage, plan, evaluate, make decisions and report on WIC FMNP operations. Additionally, State agencies provide financial and participation data to FNA using the WIC FMNP Annual Financial and Program Data Report (FNA 683B). This form and its associated reporting burdens are approved under OMB Control Number 0584-0594, Food Programs Reporting System (FPRS) (expiration date: 9/30/2026). The recordkeeping burden associated with form FNA 683B is not approved under OMB Control Number 0584-0594. State agencies must maintain records in order to support data reported in FPRS, and the burden for such record maintenance is captured in this ICR, OMB Control Number 0584-0447.

II. Updated WIC FMNP Burden Estimates

With this ICR submission, FNA is requesting to update the currently approved WIC FMNP burden estimates to reflect program changes and adjustments since the last submission. Program changes include moving State Plans into the WiSP application and corrections to better capture existing program requirements. Program adjustments account for decreases in the number of participants, the number of authorized outlets (farmers, farmers' markets, and roadside stands), the number of State agencies, and the number of local agencies.

The currently approved burden for the WIC FMNP collection is 1,175,964 hours. FNA estimates that incorporating the program changes and adjustments described above will decrease the total burden hours by 457,589 hours, to 718,375 total burden hours. The currently approved number of responses for the WIC FMNP collection is 4,149,393 total annual responses. With this revision, FNA estimates the annual responses will decrease by 1,041,504 responses, to 3,107,889 total annual responses. Table 1 shows the updated estimated burdens for WIC FMNP only.

Affected Public: Individuals/Households, Business or Other for Profit; Not for Profit; State, Local, and Tribal Government. Respondent groups identified include: (1) WIC FMNP participants who are women, infants, and children participating in WIC; (2) WIC FMNP authorized outlets which are farmers, farmers' markets, and roadside stands; (3) non-profit businesses operating as local agencies; and (4) local and State agencies (including geographic States, U.S. Territories, and Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs)) administering WIC FMNP.

Estimated Number of Respondents: The total estimated number of respondents is 1,022,092. This includes 49 WIC FMNP State agencies, 1,028 WIC FMNP local agencies (70 percent of which are operated by government entities and 30 percent of which are operated by non-profit businesses), 1,004,904 WIC FMNP individuals/households ( i.e., participants), and 16,111 authorized WIC FMNP outlets (farmers, farmers' markets, and roadside stands).

Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: The total estimated number of responses per respondent is 3.04.

Estimated Total Annual Responses: 3,107,889. The estimated total for reporting is 2,100,468 while the estimated total for recordkeeping is 1,007,421.

Estimated Time per Response: The estimated time per response averages approximately 14 minutes (0.23 hours) for all respondents. For the reporting burden, the estimated time per response varies from 5 minutes to 40 hours, while the estimated time per response for the recordkeeping burden varies from 1 minute to 40 hours, depending on the requirement.

Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 718,375 hours. The estimated total reporting burden is 698,113 hours while the estimated total recordkeeping burden is 20,262 hours.

III. Incorporating Consolidated WIC FMNP and SFMNP Activities Into the ICR

With this revision, FNA is also requesting to merge the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) information collection activities with the WIC FMNP information collection activities under a single OMB Control Number: 0584-0447. The information collection activities associated with SFMNP reporting and recordkeeping requirements are currently approved under OMB Control Number 0584-0541 (expiration date: 7/31/2029). For an overview of the most recent renewal of the SFMNP information collection activities, see the Federal Register Notice: “Agency Information Collection Activities: Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Programs—Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden,” published on March 30, 2026 (91 FR 15591).

WIC FMNP and SFMNP have near-identical program requirements, but target different populations, and are often administered by the same State agency as a “consolidated” program. State agencies administering consolidated programs may accept a single application from a farmer, farmers' market, or roadside stand, for participation in both programs. Additionally, consolidated State agencies may combine farmer, farmers' market, and roadside stand monitoring and evaluation efforts, and may use the same coupon or electronic benefit management system for both programs allowing for combined maintenance and recordkeeping efforts. The two separate ICRs do not currently account for the efficiencies that State agencies gain from administering consolidated programs. Using a single ICR will allow FNA to better capture these efficiencies and remove any duplication across ICRs. Table 2 shows the number of State agencies that administer WIC FMNP only, SFMNP only, and consolidated programs.

FNA is not proposing to make changes to either program, nor to combine WIC FMNP and SFMNP into a single program. This revision to OMB Control Number 0584-0447 only combines FNA's accounting of the administrative burdens that WIC FMNP and SFMNP place on the public into a single ICR. Doing so will allow FNA to more accurately and clearly capture the two programs' information collection burdens, avoid any duplication of reporting and recordkeeping burdens across the two ICRs, and place both programs on the same cycle of ICR renewal. FNA intends to request to discontinue OMB Control Number 0584-0541 once OMB approves this revision to OMB Control Number 0584-0447.

Table 3 presents the combined currently approved burden estimates for both programs. The combined currently approved burden for the WIC FMNP and SFMNP collections is 2,000,374 hours (1,175,964 hours for WIC FMNP and 824,410 hours for SFMNP). The combined currently approved number of responses for the WIC FMNP and SFMNP collections is 6,831,465 total annual responses (4,149,393 responses for WIC FMNP and 2,682,072 responses for SFMNP).

IV. Merged WIC FMNP and SFMNP Burden Estimates

As described above, respondents only need to complete some information collection activities a single time for consolidated WIC FMNP and SFMNP programs, rather than once per program. By merging the WIC FMNP and SFMNP information collection activities into a single ICR, these efficiencies can be captured more accurately. FNA estimates that combining both programs' information collection activities into a single ICR would eliminate 25,844 redundant burden hours from the combined currently approved burden of 2,000,374 hours.

The decrease to burden estimates from more accurately reporting ( printed page 56833) consolidated program operations, combined with the updates to the WIC FMNP burden estimates shown in Table 1 (a decrease of 457,589 hours) would result in a total decrease of 483,433 hours across both programs, from 2,000,374 hours to 1,516,941 total burden hours. The currently approved WIC FMNP and SFMNP ICRs have a combined total of 6,831,465 responses. The WIC FMNP updates and more accurate reporting of consolidated program operations would result in an estimated decrease of 1,061,778 responses, to 5,769,687 total annual responses across both programs. Table 4 shows the updated WIC FMNP burden estimates merged with the currently approved SFMNP burden estimates, accounting for consolidated program operations in 32 State agencies. Future renewals of OMB Control Number 0584-0447 will include updates to both programs in a single table, like Table 4.

Affected Public: Individuals/Households, Business or Other for Profit; Not for Profit; State, Local, and Tribal Government. Respondent groups identified include: (1) WIC FMNP and SFMNP participants; (2) WIC FMNP and SFMNP authorized outlets which are farmers, farmers' markets, roadside stands, and community supported agriculture (CSA) programs (SFMNP only); (3) non-profit businesses operating as local agencies; and (4) local and State agencies (including geographic States, U.S. Territories, and ITOs) administering WIC FMNP and SFMNP.

Estimated Number of Respondents: The total estimated number of respondents is 1,880,662. This includes 105 WIC FMNP and SFMNP State agencies, 2,141 WIC FMNP and SFMNP local agencies (70 percent of which are operated by government entities and 30 percent of which are operated by non-profit businesses), 1,843,314 WIC FMNP and SFMNP individuals/households ( i.e., participants), and 35,102 authorized WIC FMNP and SFMNP outlets (farmers, farmers' markets, roadside stands, CSA programs).

Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: The total estimated number of responses per respondent is 3.07.

Estimated Total Annual Responses: 5,769,687. The estimated total for reporting is 3,922,133 while the estimated total for recordkeeping is 1,847,554.

Estimated Time per Response: The estimated time per response averages approximately 16 minutes (0.26 hours) for all respondents. For the reporting burden, the estimated time per response varies from 5 minutes to 40 hours, while the estimated time per response for the recordkeeping burden varies from 1 minute to 40 hours, depending on the requirement.

Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 1,516,941 hours. The estimated total reporting burden is 1,479,352 hours while the estimated total recordkeeping burden is 37,589 hours.

91 FR 56830