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92_HB3085
LRB9203877TAtm
1 AN ACT concerning agriculture.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Sustainable Agriculture Act is amended by
5 changing Sections 2 and 5 as follows:
6 (505 ILCS 135/2) (from Ch. 5, par. 2652)
7 Sec. 2. Findings. It is the intent of this Act to
8 provide for funding of the developmental research program
9 that serves production agriculture in Illinois. Illinois is
10 blessed with some of the richest agricultural soils and the
11 most favorable agricultural climate of any land area in the
12 world of similar size. An economically competitive
13 production agriculture in Illinois is essential to sustaining
14 Illinois farmers plus a vast infrastructure of the State's
15 input, processing, distribution and marketing industries and
16 financial institutions and provides the economic base for
17 many rural communities and municipalities.
18 Production agriculture in Illinois faces rapidly growing
19 competition for international markets, for which the basis of
20 competition is cost of production. In order to compete
21 effectively, agricultural producers in Illinois must be the
22 early and most effective adapters of new
23 productivity-enhancing, cost-cutting and quality-improving
24 technology.
25 In addition, in order to sustain a high level of
26 agricultural production into the twenty-first century and
27 beyond, it is critical to determine the optimum methods for
28 production agriculture which result in the best return for
29 the farm and best preserves the environment and the farmland
30 of Illinois.
31 The Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station's Office of
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1 Research and research farm system are is essential to
2 conducting research that tests and compares promising new
3 agricultural practices and products, selecting those that are
4 most appropriate for Illinois, tailoring them to the specific
5 agricultural conditions of Illinois and generating
6 information that helps Illinois farmers assemble them into
7 effective farming systems, thus achieving competitive
8 advantages for Illinois.
9 Tremendous numbers of new practices and products are
10 becoming available because of increased public and private
11 research around the world, and this rate of development will
12 increase in the future, requiring a much stronger and more
13 sophisticated adaptive research program. Research conducted
14 in the research farm system permits Illinois to capture the
15 economic benefits of worldwide agricultural research and
16 product development.
17 The State's investment in utilization and marketing
18 research will have little benefit for the present and future
19 of Illinois unless Illinois farmers are the low-cost
20 producers of the raw materials for new food and non-food
21 uses, use production methods which preserve the farmland and
22 guarantee future productivity, and employ some of the
23 utilization and marketing technologies which can be
24 implemented on Illinois farms as efficient production
25 practices.
26 (Source: P.A. 86-1022.)
27 (505 ILCS 135/5) (from Ch. 5, par. 2655)
28 Sec. 5. There is hereby created the Sustainable
29 Agriculture Committee which shall consist of 7 members as
30 follows: one member representing and appointed by the
31 Governor; one member representing and appointed by the Board
32 of Higher Education; one member representing and appointed by
33 the Department of Agriculture; and 4 members appointed by the
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1 Department of Agriculture who are farmers actively involved
2 in production agriculture. Members of the Committee shall be
3 appointed for a term of 5 years.
4 It is the duty of the Committee to seek sources of
5 funding for projects described in Section 4. These sources
6 may be private or public, or federal, State, or local, or
7 designated for agricultural, environmental, or other related
8 purposes. The Committee shall act in an advisory capacity to
9 the Department of Agriculture in program administration and
10 funding recommendations.
11 The Department of Agriculture may accept funds from any
12 public or private source for the purposes specified in
13 Section 3. Funds received shall be deposited into the State
14 treasury into a State trust fund to be held by the Treasurer
15 as ex-officio custodian and subject to the Comptroller --
16 Treasurer, voucher -- warrant system. Such funds shall be
17 used by the Department only for the purposes specified in
18 Section 3.
19 (Source: P.A. 86-1022; 87-998.)
20 (505 ILCS 135/6 rep.) (from Ch. 5, par. 2656)
21 Section 10. The Sustainable Agriculture Act is amended
22 by repealing Section 6.
23 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
24 becoming law.