Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. DETAILED ACTION Response to Election/Restrictions 1. Applicant’s election without traverse of Group I, claims 1-7, in the reply filed on 03/16/2026 is acknowledged. 2. Claims 8-14 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention(s), there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 03/16/2026 . Status of Application 3. This application is a Continuation of PCT/US22/14734, which was filed on 02/01/2022, which has Provisional of 63144137, which was filed on 02/01/2021. Claims 1-14 were originally presented in this application for examination. Claims 1-14 are currently pending in this application. Information Disclosure Statement 4. The information disclosure statement (IDS) filed on 11/15/2023, 02/18/2025, and 03/23/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and have been considered by the examiner. An initial copy accompanies this office action. Specification 5 . The examiner has not checked the specification to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors (grammatical, typographical, and idiomatic). Cooperation of the applicant(s) is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant(s) may become aware of in the specification, in the claims and in any further amendment(s) that applicant(s) may file. Applicant(s) is also requested to complete the status of the copending applications referred to in the specification by their Attorney Docket Number or Application Serial Number, if any . The status of the parent application(s) and/or any other application(s) cross-referenced to this application, if any , should be updated in a timely manner. Drawings 6 . The drawings (Fig. 1 – Fig. 6) submitted with the application on 07/21/2023 have been considered. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102(a)(1) 7 . The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale , or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claim(s) 1- 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Harel et al. (US 9,504,750 B2), hereinafter “Harel et al. ‘750” . The claimed invention relates to a dry composition for improving the flowability of superabsorbent polymers for use in an agricultural environment, the composition comprising a mixture of a superabsorbent polymer and a hydrophobic material ( as recited in the instant claim 1). Harel et al. ‘750 discloses a dry stabilizing composition in an amorphous glassy state, comprising a bioactive material, one or more dissacharides at 10-50%, one or more oligosaccharides at 10-80%, one or more polysaccharides at 0.1-10%, one or more hydrolyzed proteins at 0.5-40%, and one or more carboxylic acids, salts, each percentage based on the total weight of the composition (col. 38, claim 1). With regard to claim 1, Harel et al. ‘750 teaches the same dry composition comprising a mixture of a superabsorbent polymer and a hydrophobic material as claimed (col. 38, claim 1). With regard to claim 2, the one or more polysaccharides are selected from the group including the claimed superabsorbent polymers (xanthan gum, guar gum, carboxyl-methylcellulose, chitosan, etc.) (col. 38, claim 3). With regard to claim 3, the hydrophobic material comprises a protein powder and a lipid in i) is taught by the reference (col. 38, claim 2). With regard to claim 4, the one or more hydrolyzed proteins are selected from the group including the claimed proteins (whey protein, pea protein, soy protein, etc.) (col. 38, claim 2). With regard to claim 5, the claim limitation is an alternative material, which is not required so it is not addressed. The reference meets each of the claimed limitation s and thus the instant claims are anticipated by the reference. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 8 . The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. Claim(s) 6 & 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Harel et al. (US 9,504,750 B2), hereinafter “Harel et al. ‘750” . Harel et al. ‘750 is relied upon as set forth in the precedent paragraph, except for the following difference. The instant claims further defined “the mixture is a weight ratio of the superabsorbent polymer to the hydrophobic material ranging from 100:1 to 1:1000” and “1:50 to 1:200”, respectively. Harel et al. ‘750 teaches a dry stabilizing composition comprising 0.1-10% of one or more polysaccharides and 0.5-40% of one or more hydrolyzed proteins (col. 38, claim 1). Even though the weight ratio of the polysaccharides to the proteins contained in the disclosed composition is not the same as the weight ratio claimed, it would have been prima facie obvious to optimize such materials in Harel et al. ‘750 at the time the invention was filed in order to achieve an effective and useful material because weight ratio is a results-effective variable, in view of In re Boesch . Citations 9 . The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. All references are cited for related art. See PTO-892 Form prepared. Conclusion 1 0 . Claims 1-14 are pending. Claims 1-7 are rejected. Claims 8-14 are rejected. No claims are allowed. Contacts 1 1 . Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Primary Examiner FILLIN "Examiner name" \* MERGEFORMAT CAM N. NGUYEN whose telephone number is FILLIN "Phone number" \* MERGEFORMAT (571)272-1357 . The examiner can normally be reached on M-F (8:30 am – 5:00 pm) at alternative worksite or at cam.nguyen@uspto.gov . Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anthony Zimmer, can be reached at 571-270-3591. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /Cam N. Nguyen/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1736 /CNN/ April 01 , 2026