505 ILCS 135/ Sustainable Agriculture Act.

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505 ILCS 135/1

(505 ILCS 135/1) (from Ch. 5, par. 2651)

Sec. 1.

This Act shall be known and may be cited as the

Sustainable Agriculture Act.

(Source: P.A. 86-1022.)

505 ILCS 135/2

(505 ILCS 135/2) (from Ch. 5, par. 2652)

Sec. 2.

Findings.

It is the intent of this Act  to provide for
funding of the developmental research program that serves production
agriculture in Illinois.  Illinois is blessed with some of the richest
agricultural soils and the most favorable agricultural climate of any land
area in the world of similar size.  An economically competitive production
agriculture in Illinois is essential to sustaining Illinois farmers plus a
vast infrastructure of the State's input, processing, distribution and
marketing industries and financial institutions and provides the economic
base for many rural communities and municipalities.

Production agriculture in Illinois faces rapidly growing competition for
international markets, for which the basis of competition is cost of
production.  In order to compete effectively, agricultural producers in
Illinois must be the early and most effective adapters of new
productivity-enhancing, cost-cutting and quality-improving technology.

In addition, in order to sustain a high level of agricultural production
into the twenty-first century and beyond, it is critical to determine the
optimum methods for production agriculture which result in the best return
for the farm and best preserves the environment and the farmland of Illinois.

The Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station's Office of Research and farm system are
essential to conducting research that tests and compares promising new
agricultural practices and products, selecting those that are most
appropriate for Illinois, tailoring them to the specific agricultural
conditions of Illinois and generating information that helps Illinois
farmers assemble them into effective farming systems, thus achieving
competitive advantages for Illinois.

Tremendous numbers of new practices and products are becoming available
because of increased public and private research around the world, and this
rate of development will increase in the future, requiring a much stronger
and more sophisticated adaptive research program.  Research conducted in
the research farm system permits Illinois to capture the economic benefits
of worldwide agricultural research and product development.

The State's investment in utilization and marketing research will have
little benefit for the present and future of Illinois unless Illinois
farmers are the low-cost producers of the raw materials for new food and
non-food uses, use production methods which preserve the farmland and
guarantee future productivity, and employ some of the utilization and
marketing technologies which can be implemented on Illinois farms as
efficient production practices.

(Source: P.A. 92-110, eff. 7-20-01.)

505 ILCS 135/3

(505 ILCS 135/3) (from Ch. 5, par. 2653)

Sec. 3.

There is hereby established in the Department of Agriculture
a program to be known as the "Sustainable Agriculture Program".  The
purposes of the program are as follows:

(1) To identify agricultural practices that maintain productivity and
minimize environmental degradation.

(2) To relate overland runoff, sediment transport, streamflow quantity
and quality, and ground water quantity (recharge) and quality to specific
agricultural practices.

(3) To integrate and coordinate experiment field and on-farm research
and educational efforts of cooperating individuals, agencies, institutions,
and organizations.

(4) To test and refine alternative approaches to organizing and
conducting on-farm research and demonstration projects.

(5) To test the organizational approach of joint farmer/specialist
development of a computerized decision support system (expert system) as an
approach to fostering sustainable agriculture.

(6) To develop an expert system embodying the expertise of experienced
farmers and agency, institutional, and agribusiness specialists to help
answer the question of what tillage and crop management system should be used
in a particular field in a particular year.

(7) To test the usefulness of the existing conservation tillage
knowledge base in making tillage system selection, implementation, and
management decisions.

(8) To identify the most critical needs for research and educational
programs related to sustainable agriculture.

(Source: P.A. 86-1022.)

505 ILCS 135/4

(505 ILCS 135/4) (from Ch. 5, par. 2654)

Sec. 4.

As administrator of the Sustainable Agriculture Program, the
Department of Agriculture shall:

(a) determine what production agriculture research projects currently
being conducted fit into the purposes of this Act;

(b) encourage public and private institutions, including the various
public universities in this State, to establish production agriculture research projects;

(c) allocate funds obtained by the Sustainable Agriculture Committee to
the various research projects the Department of Agriculture determines meet
the purposes of the Sustainable Agriculture Program;

(d) act as a clearing house and disseminate information concerning
research projects funded by the Sustainable Agriculture Program and the
results of such research; and

(e) adopt rules necessary to carry out this Act.

(Source: P.A. 86-1022.)

505 ILCS 135/5

(505 ILCS 135/5) (from Ch. 5, par. 2655)

Sec. 5.

There is hereby created the Sustainable Agriculture Committee
which shall consist of 7 members as follows: one member representing and
appointed by the Governor; one member representing and appointed by the
Board of Higher Education; one member representing and appointed by the
Department of Agriculture; and 4 members appointed by the Department of
Agriculture who are farmers actively involved in production agriculture.
Members of the Committee shall be appointed for a term of 5 years.

It is the duty of the Committee to seek sources of funding for projects
described in Section 4.  These sources may be private or public, or
federal, State, or local, or designated for agricultural, environmental, or
other related purposes. The Committee shall act in an advisory capacity to
the Department of
Agriculture in program administration and funding recommendations.

The Department of Agriculture may accept funds from any public or
private source for the purposes specified in Section 3.  Funds received
shall be deposited into the State treasury into a State trust fund to be
held by the Treasurer as ex-officio custodian and subject to the
Comptroller -- Treasurer, voucher -- warrant system.  Such funds shall be
used by the Department only for the purposes specified in Section 3.

(Source: P.A. 92-110, eff. 7-20-01.)

505 ILCS 135/6

(505 ILCS 135/6) (from Ch. 5, par. 2656)

Sec. 6.

(Repealed).

(Source: P.A. 86-1022. Repealed by P.A. 92-110, eff. 7-20-01.)