SF 2493

as introduced - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to economic development; establishing a 
  1.3             program for sustainable family farms; proposing coding 
  1.4             for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 17. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  [17.844] [SUSTAINABLE FAMILY FARM PRESERVATION 
  1.7   ACT.] 
  1.8      Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITIONS.] (a) "Sustainable family farm"
  1.9   means a farm that: 
  1.10     (1) is owned, operated, or managed by one or more families 
  1.11  where the families provide a majority of the labor, management, 
  1.12  and capital; 
  1.13     (2) the farm is substantially in compliance with all 
  1.14  environmental, resource conservation, and public health 
  1.15  regulations; 
  1.16     (3) the farm's agricultural land has adequate buffer strips 
  1.17  along public water shorelines, drainage ditches, and drain tile 
  1.18  inlets; and 
  1.19     (4) the farm may be large enough to make or have the 
  1.20  potential to make a fair profit from sales of agricultural 
  1.21  commodities in an average year. 
  1.22     (b) "Fair profit" means a profit per full-time farmer from 
  1.23  sales of agricultural commodities that meets or exceeds 140 
  1.24  percent of the average per capita income for the most recent 
  1.25  year calculated in Minnesota as determined by the Minnesota 
  2.1   Department of Finance. 
  2.2      Subd. 2.  [SUSTAINABLE FAMILY FARMS; PROHIBITED STATE 
  2.3   AGENCY OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACTION.] State agencies and local 
  2.4   governmental units may not: 
  2.5      (1) prohibit the expansion of a sustainable family farm 
  2.6   that meets all legal requirements for expansion; 
  2.7      (2) restrict the activities of the sustainable family farm 
  2.8   so as to deny a farmer the right to full-time employment on the 
  2.9   farm and the potential for a fair profit; and 
  2.10     (3) discriminate against the sustainable family farm. 
  2.11     Subd. 3.  [SUSTAINABLE FAMILY FARM PROMOTION.] In order to 
  2.12  promote the development of sustainable family farms in the 
  2.13  state, state agencies and local governments shall: 
  2.14     (1) allow sustainable family farms to be competitive and 
  2.15  generate a fair profit through adoption of new technology, 
  2.16  growth in their farm business, and reinvestment in buildings, 
  2.17  equipment, and other infrastructure provided they meet all legal 
  2.18  requirements or obtain necessary variances; 
  2.19     (2) be encouraged not to regulate the size of sustainable 
  2.20  family farms, but if regulation of size is necessary, to 
  2.21  regulate size only to the extent that the sustainable family 
  2.22  farm can continue to maintain a fair profit; 
  2.23     (3) provide strong encouragement for establishment of 
  2.24  livestock enterprises by sustainable family farms; 
  2.25     (4) promote environmental protection and water quality 
  2.26  improvement through increased livestock production on 
  2.27  sustainable family farms that results in controlling runoff 
  2.28  through increased acreage of hay, pasture, and small grains; and 
  2.29     (5) promote the increased use of agronomically applied 
  2.30  manure to increase the water holding capacity of the soil, 
  2.31  control erosion, and decrease phosphorus runoff.