2009 Minnesota Statutes

CHAPTER 395. AGRICULTURAL ASSISTANCE, DEVELOPMENT

395.01 [Repealed, 1985 c 109 s 17]

395.02 [Repealed, 1985 c 109 s 17]

395.03 [Repealed, 1985 c 109 s 17]

395.035 [Renumbered 375.78]

395.04 [Renumbered 375.79]

395.05 [Renumbered 375.80]

395.06 [Renumbered 375.81]

395.07 [Renumbered 375.82]

395.08 [Renumbered 375.83]

395.09 [Renumbered 383C.801]

395.10 [Renumbered 383C.802]

395.11 [Renumbered 383C.803]

395.12 [Renumbered 383C.804]

395.13 [Renumbered 383C.805]

395.14 SEED AND FEED LOANS.

Authority is granted to any county in the state to lend money to residents of the county who are citizens of the United States or resident aliens or who have declared their intention of becoming citizens of the United States, for the purpose of purchasing seed and feed for teams whenever there has been a total or partial failure of crops in the county, by reason of hail, flood, drought, fire, or other cause. Qualified residents must own, or hold under contract for deed, land previously under cultivation and cropped and in condition capable of being cropped during the ensuing year, but must be unable to procure seed for planting their land and feed for their teams while doing the planting and must be in imminent danger of losing their property. If not less than 25 resident landowners of the county, before March first next following the crop failure, present to the auditor of the county a petition signed by them asking that the county lend money to residents suffering by reason of the crop failure, for the purpose of purchasing seed and feed, the auditor shall receive and file the petition and at once call a meeting of the county board to consider the petition. The county board shall, on or before the second Monday in March, next following, meet and consider the petition and may enter an order that the county lend, from its general fund, sums as it deems necessary for the purpose; however, the amount shall not, with the existing indebtedness of the county, exceed the amount of indebtedness fixed by the laws of this state.

History:

(740) 1917 c 21 s 1; 1919 c 49 s 1; 1984 c 609 s 25; 2004 c 228 art 2 s 16

395.15 APPLICATIONS TO COUNTY AUDITOR.

Any resident freeholder of such county may apply for seed and feed or either of them, for personal use as follows: The freeholder shall file with the county auditor, on or before the second Monday in March, a verified written application therefor showing the following facts:

(1) the freeholder's name, residence, and the places where the freeholder has resided during the past five years;

(2) all lands owned or occupied by the freeholder and the freeholder's interest therein and the encumbrances, if any, thereon;

(3) all personal property owned by the freeholder and the encumbrances, if any, thereon;

(4) the number of acres the freeholder seeded and harvested last year and the number of bushels of grain threshed therefrom;

(5) the description of land desired to be prepared for crop and seed, its condition and number of acres plowed and unplowed;

(6) the number of horses and oxen owned by the freeholder and the encumbrances, if any, thereon;

(7) the number of bushels and kind of seed desired and the number of bushels of feed required; and

(8) that the freeholder is poor and unable to procure seed or feed from any other source.

History:

(741) 1917 c 21 s 2; 1919 c 49 s 2; 1986 c 444

395.16 COUNTY BOARD; WHEN TO RECEIVE APPLICATIONS.

The county auditor shall file and number the applications in the order received and call the county board to meet on the second Tuesday in March next following; and the board shall meet and consider these applications separately and in the order of their filing, and may grant such applications, in whole or in part, as appears to it just and proper. Not more than 200 bushels of wheat, or its equivalent in other seed, shall be furnished to any one person.

The county board is hereby granted authority, in its discretion, to direct the filing by the auditor of the petition provided for in section 395.14 after March 1st, and to receive applications for grain after the second Monday in March and to act upon such petition and application the same as if received prior to the respective dates provided in section 395.15.

The county board shall make an order specifying the names of persons and amounts allowed with the kind and quantities of seed and feed granted, and the county auditor shall issue and deliver to the applicant a warrant showing such allowance. Such warrant shall be for the purchase of such seed and feed and for no other purpose whatever, and shall be paid by the county treasurer only when there is endorsed on the back thereof a receipt signed by the applicant, acknowledging receipt by the applicant from some reputable person, of the seed and feed therein specified.

History:

(742) 1917 c 21 s 3; 1917 c 154; 1986 c 444

395.17 COUNTY AUDITOR AND COUNTY ATTORNEY TO COUNSEL BOARD.

The county auditor and county attorney are hereby required to attend all meetings of the county board provided in sections 395.14 to 395.24 and to carefully examine all applications filed under the provisions of sections 395.14 to 395.24 and shall give the board the benefit of all information they may have relative to the applicants, and shall counsel, advise, and assist the county board in the discharge of its duties under sections 395.14 to 395.24.

History:

(743) 1917 c 21 s 4

395.18 CONDITION OF CONTRACT.

The warrant provided for in section 395.16 shall not be delivered until the applicant shall have signed a contract in duplicate, attested by the county auditor, to the effect that the applicant, for and in consideration of the seed and feed specified received from the county, promises to pay to the county the amount allowed for the same, on or before the first day of October following, with interest at the rate of six percent per annum, that such amount shall be a first lien upon the crop raised from the seed and, in addition thereto, shall be taxable against the real property of the applicant for which seed and feed was furnished. The contract shall also contain a true description of the land upon which the applicant intends to and will sow and plant such seed, in due season next following, and shall specify that the written application shall be a part of this contract. The auditor shall forthwith record one of such duplicate contracts with the county recorder of the county, for which the applicant shall pay the required recording fee and file the other duplicate in the auditor's office.

History:

(744) 1917 c 21 s 5; 1976 c 181 s 2; 1986 c 444; 2005 c 4 s 101

395.19 COUNTY TO HAVE LIEN UPON CROPS.

Upon the filing of the contracts provided for in section 395.18, the county shall acquire a just and valid lien upon the crops of grain raised each year by the person receiving the seed or feed, for the amount owing to the county upon the contract, as against all creditors, purchasers, or mortgagees, whether in good faith, or otherwise, and the filing of the contract shall be held and considered to be full and sufficient notice to all parties of the existence and extent of the lien, which shall continue in force until the amount covered by the contract is fully paid.

History:

(745) 1917 c 21 s 6

395.20 INDEBTEDNESS DUE OCTOBER 1, RATE OF INTEREST.

The amount of such indebtedness upon such contracts shall become due and payable on the first day of October in the year in which the seed or feed, or both, is furnished, together with interest on such amount from the date of the warrants issued therefor, at the rate of six percent per annum; and, if the indebtedness be not paid on or before the first day of November of that year it shall then be the duty of the auditor of the county to cause the amount of the indebtedness to be entered upon the tax list of the county, as a tax against the land owned by the applicant for whom the aid was furnished, to be collected as other taxes are collected under the laws of this state.

History:

(746) 1917 c 21 s 7

395.21 MARKETING OF GRAIN.

Each and every person who has received seed or feed, or both, under the provisions of sections 395.14 to 395.24, shall, as soon as crops for the year wherein payment is to be made are harvested and threshed, market a sufficient amount of grain to pay the amount then due on the contract and pay the same over to the auditor of the county.

History:

(747) 1917 c 21 s 8; 1986 c 444

395.22 PENALTY FOR VIOLATION.

Any person who shall, contrary to the provisions of sections 395.14 to 395.24, sell, transfer, take, or carry away, or in any manner dispose of, the seed or feed, or any part thereof, furnished by the county under sections 395.14 to 395.24 or shall use or dispose of such seed or feed, or any part thereof, for any other purpose than that of planting or sowing with same as stated in the application and contract, or shall sell, transfer, take, or carry away, or in any manner dispose of, the crop or any part thereof, produced from the sowing or planting of such seed, before the same is paid for, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall pay all the costs of prosecution, and whoever under any of the provisions of sections 395.14 to 395.24 shall be found guilty of false swearing shall be deemed to have committed perjury and shall upon conviction suffer the pains and penalties of that crime. Upon the recording of the contract in the office of the county recorder, and the sowing of the seed obtained therefor, the title and right of possession to the growing crop and to the grain produced from the seed shall be in the county which shall have furnished the seed until the debt incurred for such seed or feed, shall have been paid, and any seizure thereof or interference therewith except by the applicant and those in the applicant's employ, for the purpose of harvesting, threshing, and marketing the same to pay such debt, shall be deemed a conversion thereof and treble damages may be recovered against the person so converting the same by the county furnishing such seed and feed.

History:

(748) 1917 c 21 s 9; 1976 c 181 s 2; 1986 c 444; 2005 c 4 s 102; 2005 c 10 art 3 s 20

395.23 DUTIES OF POLICE OFFICERS.

It shall be the duty of the town clerk of a town and the members of the county board, sheriff, and county attorneys of any county furnishing seed or feed, having any knowledge of the violation of the provisions of sections 395.14 to 395.24, to file a complaint with a district court. The court shall issue a warrant for the arrest of the offender, and proceed to hear and determine the matter or to bind the offender over to appear before the grand jury, as the case may be.

History:

(749) 1917 c 21 s 10; 1983 c 359 s 61; 1998 c 254 art 2 s 45; 2005 c 10 art 2 s 4

395.24 PRO RATA DISTRIBUTION.

If more seed grain is applied for than can be supplied by the county board, a pro rata distribution shall be made by it among those who shall have been found entitled to the benefits of sections 395.14 to 395.24. The board shall have the right to refuse any application which it may deem improper to grant, and may revise their adjustment of applications at any time before final distribution.

History:

(750) 1917 c 21 s 11