HF 2631

1st Engrossment - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to agriculture; providing for dairy investment matching grants;
appropriating money; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes,
chapter 17.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

new text begin [17.118] DAIRY INVESTMENT MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM.
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new text begin (a) The commissioner may award a dairy investment grant of up to $40,000 to a
person who manages and milks 100 or fewer dairy cows in this state and who will spend
the grant on qualifying expenditures, provided the person makes qualifying expenditures
from other sources that will match the amount of the grant.
new text end

new text begin (b) For purposes of this section, "qualifying expenditures" means the amount spent
for the development of pasture for use by dairy animals, for the acquisition of equipment
for dairy animal housing, for confinement, for animal feeding, for production and delivery
of milk and other dairy products, and for waste management, including the following, if
related to dairy animals in this state:
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new text begin (1) freestall barns;
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new text begin (2) fences;
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new text begin (3) watering facilities;
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new text begin (4) feed storage and handling equipment;
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new text begin (5) milking parlors;
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new text begin (6) robotic equipment;
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new text begin (7) scales;
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new text begin (8) milk storage and cooling facilities;
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new text begin (9) bulk tanks;
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new text begin (10) manure pumping and storage facilities;
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new text begin (11) digesters;
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new text begin (12) equipment used to produce energy; and
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new text begin (13) on-farm processing and refrigerated trucks for delivery of milk and other dairy
products.
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new text begin (c) Except for qualifying pasture expenditures in paragraph (d), qualifying
expenditures only include amounts that are allowed to be capitalized and deducted under
either section 167 or 179 of the Internal Revenue Code in computing federal taxable
income. Qualifying expenditures do not include an amount paid to refinance existing debt.
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new text begin (d) Qualifying expenditures for development of pasture must not include land
acquisition and are limited to soil preparation expenses, seed costs, planting costs, and
weed control, which are allowed once for each acre owned or rented by a person for the
use of dairy animals and developed into pasture.
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new text begin (e) To be eligible for the dairy investment grant, a person must apply to the
commissioner on forms prescribed by the commissioner and must include a statement of
the intended qualifying expenditures, including matching qualifying expenditures, along
with any proof or other documentation the commissioner may require.
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new text begin (f) The commissioner shall review completed applications and award grants to
eligible applicants in the order in which applications were received by the commissioner.
Once funding in any fiscal year has been exhausted, the commissioner must place any
additional eligible applicants on a waiting list and give them priority should additional
funds become available. The commissioner shall notify in writing any applicant who
applies for a grant of the decision made on the grant application and, if it is denied, the
reasons for the denial.
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Sec. 2. new text begin APPROPRIATION.
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new text begin Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes 2007 Supplement, section 41B.06, the
commissioner of agriculture must take $250,000 from the Rural Finance Authority
Revolving Loan Account and use these funds to provide grants to eligible dairy producers
under the dairy investment matching grant program in section 1.
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Sec. 3. new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE.
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new text begin Sections 1 and 2 are effective the day following final enactment.
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