Legislative Session number- 83

Bill Name: SF2428

E Relating to agriculture; temporarily reducing the maximum interest+ rate
under the agricultural shared savings loan program; establishing a +state
livestock production promotion policy for family farms; regulating +public
meetings held to notify affected residents of pesticide treatments +for adult
mosquito control; eliminating the private manure applicator +certification
program and modifying certain commercial manure application +requirements;
exempting certain home processed and canned foods sold at community +or social
events or farmers markets from food handlers or commercial canning +licensing
and inspection requirements, requiring the commissioner of +agriculture in
cooperation with the commissioner of health and the Minnesota +extension service
to attempt to maximize the availability of information and technical +services
and support for persons wishing to home process and home can low acid+ and
acidified food products; modifying certain eligibility conditions for+ pro rata
distribution of aid to county and district agricultural societies and
associations, eliminating a certain commissioner of agriculture +certification
requirement and modifying certain reporting requirements; eliminating+ the limit
on city, town or county contributions to county or district fairs; +modifying
certain ethanol producer payments disclosure statement requirements +and
requiring annual commissioner reports to the legislature summarizing +aggregated
data from plants receiving payments, requiring commissioner payment +of certain
producer payments delayed in 2003; modifying certain net worth +requirements for
eligibility for certain loans administered by the rural finance +authority (RFA)
and increasing certain limits on state participation in the loans; +providing
for dairy modernization grants through the commissioner of employment+ and
economic development (DEED); requiring the licensing of veterinary +medical
center clinicians at the university of Minnesota college of +veterinary medicine
treating animals owned by clients of the medical center; excepting +specialty
practitioners in hard to fill faculty positions at the college of +veterinary
medicine from the license requirement, providing for the issuance of +specialty
or temporary faculty veterinary medical center clinician licenses to +the
excepted practitioners; providing for the validity of certain +electronic
documents and signatures, defining electronic document, electronic +signature
and electronic grain warehouse receipt; increasing certain grain +buyers penal
bond requirements and modifying certain financial statement +requirements;
authorizing grain buyers to use electronic versions of voluntary +extension of
credit contracts containing the same information as the written +documents,
prohibiting electronic and paper contracts representing the same lot +of grain;
authorizing grain warehouse operators to issue electronic versions of+ grain
warehouse receipts containing the same information as the paper +versions,
prohibiting paper and electronic receipts from representing the same +lot of
grain and providing for redemption; eliminating the time limit on +reinstatement
of cooperatives after dissolution; modifying the definition of +permanent
resident alien for agricultural land ownership purposes and +specifying certain
report filing requirements; modifying the definition of family farm +trust for
corporate farming purposes and including the trusts in the +definitions of
authorized farm corporations, partnerships or limited liability +companies
(LLC); clarifying the definition of family farm partnership; +expanding the
definition of family farm limited liability company; eliminating a +certain
residency requirement relating to shareholders of authorized +livestock farm
corporations; limiting nuisance claims against certain agricultural +operations
operating according to generally accepted agricultural practices, +defining
generally accepted agricultural practices and providing a rebuttable presumption
of compliance; creating the crime of exposing domestic +animals to disease,
defining domestic animal and imposing a criminal penalty and+ civil liability
for violation; prohibiting certain trespass on posted +agricultural land
containing domestic animals or livestock, penalty; requiring a commissioner
report to the legislature by a certain date on a value +added agriculture
program to pay beginning dairy farmers based on the +amount of milk production;
repealing certain agricultural society accounting and +books examination duties
of the commissioner (je, ja)