Perdue Agribusiness Communications with USDA (Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service)

Mr. Rony,

This office is in receipt of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for records maintained by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Economic Research Service (ERS). Because the Research, Education, and Economic (REE) FOIA Office administers the FOIA for the REE agencies, which includes ERS, your request addressed to Shelly Ver Ploeg was forwarded to this office for processing.

Thank you for providing clarification that you are only interested in receiving records maintained by ARS and ERS and for indicating the time period covered by your request. In order to search our records, we need for you to provide additional information that will help us to identify the ARS and ERS employees or staffs that would maintain the records you are seeking. In the case of emails, you will need to provide the names of the ARS and ERS employees involved.

In addition, based on the information you have provided, you are considered an "all other" requester and may be charged fees for searching for documents and duplication, minus the first 2 hours of search time and the first 100 pages. Because the records you are requesting cover a 6-year period and would involve more than 2 hours of search time, you should indicate the amount you are willing to pay in processing fees.

If you can provide a telephone number, we will be able to contact you concerning questions we have about your request.
Please send your email to stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov<mailto:stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov>, with a cc to reefoia@ars.usda.gov<mailto:reefoia@ars.usda.gov>. Once we hear back from you with the additional information requested, we will be able to process your request.

If you have any questions, please call me on 202-815-2913 or stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov<mailto:stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov>.

Sincerely,

Stasia

Stasia Hutchison
FOIA/PA Officer, REE, USDA
5601 Sunnyside Avenue
GWCC, Room 1-2248, Mail Stop 5128
Beltsville, MD 20705-5128
stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov<mailto:stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov>
301-504-1655 (w) 301-504-1647 (fax)
Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Reference Guide<http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=1398>

Mr. Rony,

This office is in receipt of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for records maintained by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Economic Research Service (ERS). Because the Research, Education, and Economic (REE) FOIA Office administers the FOIA for the REE agencies, which includes ERS, your request addressed to Shelly Ver Ploeg was forwarded to this office for processing.

Thank you for providing clarification that you are only interested in receiving records maintained by ARS and ERS and for indicating the time period covered by your request. In order to search our records, we need for you to provide additional information that will help us to identify the ARS and ERS employees or staffs that would maintain the records you are seeking. In the case of emails, you will need to provide the names of the ARS and ERS employees involved.

In addition, based on the information you have provided, you are considered an "all other" requester and may be charged fees for searching for documents and duplication, minus the first 2 hours of search time and the first 100 pages. Because the records you are requesting cover a 6-year period and would involve more than 2 hours of search time, you should indicate the amount you are willing to pay in processing fees.

If you can provide a telephone number, we will be able to contact you concerning questions we have about your request.
Please send your email to stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov<mailto:stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov>, with a cc to reefoia@ars.usda.gov<mailto:reefoia@ars.usda.gov>. Once we hear back from you with the additional information requested, we will be able to process your request.

If you have any questions, please call me on 202-815-2913 or stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov<mailto:stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov>.

Sincerely,

Stasia

Stasia Hutchison
FOIA/PA Officer, REE, USDA
5601 Sunnyside Avenue
GWCC, Room 1-2248, Mail Stop 5128
Beltsville, MD 20705-5128
stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov<mailto:stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov>
301-504-1655 (w) 301-504-1647 (fax)
Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Reference Guide<http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=1398>

Alexander Rony

This is to acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests dated March 20, 2017, for emails between the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) or the Economic Research Service (ERS) and Perdue Agribusiness. Your requests were perfected on March 22 and assigned FOIA No. 2017-REE-03061-F with an estimated response date of April 19.

Specifically, you are requesting:

email communications to or from email addresses with the domains perduepartners.com or agrowstar.com and the following USDA employees:

Ann Bartuska
Catherine Woteki
Chavonda Jacobs-Young
Edward B. Knipling
Steven M. Kappes
Mary Bohman
Jayachandran Variyam
Marca Weinberg
Gopi Munisamy

Timeframe: January 11, 2011 to April 22, 2017

Because you have requested emails for Ann Bartuska and Catherine Woteki, Office of the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economic (REE), your request is also being referred to the Department FOIA Office for processing. The contact information for the Department FOIA Office is:

USDA Departmental FOIA Officer
Alexis Graves
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Room 428-W, Whitten Building
Washington, DC 20250-0706
Email: USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov<mailto:USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov>

The other individuals listed in your request are either ARS or ERS employees and this office will be processing your request for those emails. If you have any questions concerning your request, please contact me at 202-815-2913 or stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov<mailto:stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov>.

Sincerely,

Stasia

Stasia Hutchison
FOIA/PA Officer, REE, USDA
5601 Sunnyside Avenue
GWCC, Room 1-2248, Mail Stop 5128
Beltsville, MD 20705-5128
stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov<mailto:stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov>
301-504-1655 (w) 301-504-1647 (fax)
Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Reference Guide<http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=1398>

This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

Good morning, Mr. Rony.

This e-mail acknowledges receipt of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request you originally submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Research, Education and Economics (REE) mission area. REE routed a portion of your request, pertaining to the Office of the Secretary, to USDA's Department FOIA Office (DFO) for processing and direct response to you. The DFO received your request today, March 30th.

The DFO is under the purview of the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) and serves as the focal point for USDA's FOIA program. The DFO provides coordination and ensures agency-wide compliance with the FOIA. Additionally, the DFO processes requests and appeals on behalf of the Office of the Secretary and Departmental Management's ("DM") components. For a complete listing of DM's components, please visit http://www.dm.usda.gov/agencies.htm.

The FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A)(i), requires USDA to make a determination in response to a FOIA request within 20 business days from its date of receipt. In unusual circumstances, the Federal agency time limit may be extended by 10 business days as stated in 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B). If your request seeks numerous documents that will necessitate a wide-ranging search, including searches with components and possible consultations with components that have a substantial interest in the determination of this request, USDA will invoke a 10 business day extension for determination of your request. You have the option to narrow the scope of your request to limit the number of potentially responsive documents.

Provisions of the FOIA allow USDA to recover part of the cost of complying with your request. For purposes of fee assessment, you were categorized as an "all other" requester, pursuant to 7 CFR Appendix A to Subpart A of Part 1 Section (5)(d). For your review and information, a copy of the USDA FOIA Fee Schedule is enclosed. In accordance with 7 CFR Appendix A to Subpart A of Part 1 Section 6(a)(4), your fees shall be waived where the amount of the fee is $25.00 or less. You will be contacted before any fees over $25.00 are accrued.

A search will be initiated by the DFO for records responsive to your request. If any responsive records are located, they will be reviewed for determination of releasability. Please be assured that a FOIA Analyst in this office will respond to your request as expeditiously as possible. We appreciate your patience as we proceed with your request.

Your request has been assigned FOIA Case No. 2017-OCIO-03151-F. Please refer to this case number in any future correspondence. If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact me at (202) 772-9091 or electronically at Christine.Jordan@ocio.usda.gov<mailto:Christine.Jordan@ocio.usda.gov> or USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov<mailto:USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov>. For additional information regarding USDA FOIA regulations and process, please refer to the information available on-line at www.dm.usda.gov/foia<http://www.dm.usda.gov/foia>.

The DFO Team appreciates the opportunity to assist you in this matter.

Best,
Christine Jordan, Esq.
Program Manager-FOIA
USDA/OCIO Contractor
Department FOIA Office
Patriot Plaza III, 355 E Street, SW
Washington DC 20024
Telephone: (202) 772-9091

This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

Alexander Rony

This is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests dated March 20, 2017, for emails between the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) or the Economic Research Service (ERS) and Perdue Agribusiness. Your requests were perfected on March 22 and assigned FOIA No. 2017-REE-03061-F.

Specifically, you are requesting:

email communications to or from email addresses with the domains perduepartners.com or agrowstar.com and the following USDA employees:

Ann Bartuska
Catherine Woteki
Chavonda Jacobs-Young
Edward B. Knipling
Steven M. Kappes
Mary Bohman
Jayachandran Variyam
Marca Weinberg
Gopi Munisamy

Timeframe: January 11, 2011 to April 22, 2017

This office processed your request for emails maintained by ARS and ERS. A search for responsive records was conducted in the Office of the Chief Information Officer's (OCIO) telecommunications provider, Client Technology Services (CTS). The CTS provider performs network services for OCIO, including electronic messaging operations, blackberry, mobile device management (MDM), file and print, remote access, voice, network, service desk, and other application services.

The search did not identify any emails between perduepartners.com or agrowstar.com and the following employees dated between January 11, 2011, to April 22, 2017:

Chavonda Jacobs-Young
Edward B. Knipling
Steven M. Kappes
Mary Bohman
Jayachandran Variyam
Marca Weinberg
Gopi Munisamy

If you are not satisfied with the response to this request, you may administratively appeal our determination by writing to the Administrator, ARS, USDA, Room 302-A, Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building, 14th & Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250. Your appeal must be postmarked within 90 days of the date of the response to your request. The phrase "FOIA Appeal" should be placed in capital letters on the front of the envelope containing the appeal.

Please note that your request for emails involving Ann Bartuska and Catherine Woteki, Office of the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economic (REE), was forwarded to the Department FOIA Office for processing on March 29, 2017. The contact information for the Department FOIA Office is:

USDA Departmental FOIA Officer
Alexis Graves
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Room 428-W, Whitten Building
Washington, DC 20250-0706
Email: USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov<mailto:USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov>

If you have any questions concerning your request, please contact me at 202-815-2913 or stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov<mailto:stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov>. You may also contact our FOIA Public Liaison or FOIA Requester Service Center at 301-504-1743 or REEFOIA@ars.usda.gov<mailto:REEFOIA@ars.usda.gov>. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer. The contact information for OGIS is: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001; ogis@nara.gov<mailto:ogis@nara.gov>; 202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile at 202-741-5769.

Sincerely,

Stasia

Stasia Hutchison
FOIA/PA Officer, REE, USDA
5601 Sunnyside Avenue
GWCC, Room 1-2248, Mail Stop 5128
Beltsville, MD 20705-5128
stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov<mailto:stasia.hutchison@ars.usda.gov>
301-504-1655 (w) 301-504-1647 (fax)
Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Reference Guide<http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=1398>

This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

Good afternoon, Mr. Rony.

Please find attached the Final Response Letter associated with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request you submitted recently to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2017-OCIO-03151-F. A copy of your incoming request is also attached for your reference.

Best,
Christine Jordan, Esq.
Program Manager-FOIA
USDA/OCIO Contractor
Department FOIA Office
Patriot Plaza III, 355 E Street, SW
Washington DC 20024
Telephone: (202) 772-9091

This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.