Sugar Loan Program Crop Year Definition and Loan Availability Period

The proposed rule on the sugar loan program crop year and loan availability period, published in the Federal Register on April 2, 1997, at 62 FR 15622, is adopted with changes as a final rule. The final rule defines crop year for the sugar loan program as the Federal fiscal year and extends the loan availability period to the whole fiscal year. The final rule conforms to current statutory language by removing the restriction that supplemental loans, which permit sugar collateral to be repledged for a second loan in the following fiscal year, will be offered only on sugar from sugarcane or sugar beets normally harvested in July, August, or September.