1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to agriculture; transferring certain 
  1.3             agricultural trade promotion duties from the 
  1.4             commissioner of trade and economic development to the 
  1.5             commissioner of agriculture; authorizing certain 
  1.6             regional trade centers; appropriating money; amending 
  1.7             Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 17.03, subdivision 8; 
  1.8             repealing Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 116J.966, 
  1.9             subdivision 2. 
  1.10  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.11     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 17.03, 
  1.12  subdivision 8, is amended to read: 
  1.13     Subd. 8.  [COOPERATION WITH MINNESOTA TRADE OFFICE 
  1.14  AGRICULTURAL TRADE PROMOTION.] (a) The commissioner of 
  1.15  agriculture, the commissioner of trade and economic development, 
  1.16  and the director of the Minnesota trade office shall cooperate 
  1.17  with each other to promote the beneficial agricultural interests 
  1.18  of the state.  The commissioner of trade and economic 
  1.19  development and the director of the Minnesota trade office 
  1.20  have agriculture has primary responsibility for promoting state 
  1.21  agricultural interests to international markets.  The 
  1.22  commissioner of agriculture has primary responsibility and for 
  1.23  promoting the agricultural interests of producers, promoting 
  1.24  state agricultural markets, and promoting agricultural interests 
  1.25  of the state in cooperative production and marketing efforts 
  1.26  with other states and the United States Department of 
  1.27  Agriculture. 
  2.1      (b) The commissioner may establish a regional agribusiness 
  2.2   trade center within the Central Minnesota Economic Development 
  2.3   Research and Education Center to provide agribusiness export 
  2.4   services that are balanced geographically throughout Minnesota 
  2.5   and may contract with not-for-profit organizations in greater 
  2.6   Minnesota for delivery of agricultural trade services. 
  2.7      Sec. 2.  [REPEALER.] 
  2.8      Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 116J.966, subdivision 2, 
  2.9   is repealed. 
  2.10     Sec. 3.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  2.11     $50,000 is appropriated from the general fund to the 
  2.12  commissioner of agriculture, for each fiscal year of the 
  2.13  biennium ending June 30, 1997, for the purposes of section 1.