Governor Hoeven's Six Pillars

Agriculture - New Technologies, New Opportunities for our Farmers

Agriculture is one of the foundations of our economy, and still our largest industry. Since 2001, we've created a value-added board in the Commerce Department to promote opportunities in value-added processing; created investment tax credits to spark value-added ventures; eliminated the used farm equipment sales tax to reduce the burden on our farmers; and increased general fund dollars for agricultural research to keep our farmers on the cutting edge.

Now, we're building on that agenda to create even more opportunities for farmers and ranchers. We've enhanced funding for research and development.

In our last budget, we've increased the General Fund appropriation for NDSU Agriculture by 34 percent for the main and branch units of the Experiment Station, the Extension Service, the Northern Crops Institute and the Upper Grain Plains Transportation Institute. That includes $7 million in new funding - $14 million in total state funding - toward a research greenhouse complex, and $700,000 in biomass research and education. The total agriculture budget for NDSU is $186 million.

Agriculture and Energy - a Partnership for the Future

Production agriculture has always been a vital part of our economic base, but agriculture is no longer just about food - we are now working to forge dynamic relationships between agriculture and energy, as well. New agriculture-related energy initiatives include a comprehensive $42 million ag-based renewable energy plan, featuring:

• A $5 million Biofuels PACE Fund, an interest buy-down program for renewable fuels, dairies, ranching operations and E-85 pumps. Biofuels PACE provides $500,000 of interest buy-down for each new biofuels facility in North Dakota. Combined with the regular PACE and local match, the program makes up to $900,000 available to finance each new ethanol or biodiesel project. This is enough leverage to develop 10 major new biofuels projects. Biofuels PACE is targeted to new ventures that are either 50 percent owned by North Dakotans, or 10 percent owned by producers. The program will be available not only for new ethanol and biodiesel facilities, but also for new or expanding dairies and cattle feeders that can use livestock feed, which is a byproduct of these plants.
• A $3 million Renewable Energy Grant Fund
• A Biomass Demonstration Project
• $3 million of tradable income tax credits for installation of geothermal, solar and wind energy devices
• A discount on property taxes for wind generation units from 3 to 1 ½ percent

Animal Agriculture and Streamlined Regulations

• Four new meat inspectors with a total increase of $534,000 for the state inspection program.
• Increased funding for the Pride of Dakota Program by $100,000.
• A $1 million interest buy-down loan program on new or expanding livestock or dairy operations.
• Up to $250,000 of interest buy-down on loans for each new or expanding livestock or milking operations that use byproducts of biofuels (Part of Biofuels PACE.)
• A 30 percent Investment Tax Credit for livestock feeding and milking operations that use biofuels facility byproducts.
• Loans to dairy farms under the Bank of North Dakota Livestock Guarantee Program.
• Appropriated $75,000 to the Dairy Coalition for efforts to recruit dairy operations to the state.
• Clarification of the authority of counties and townships to zone for location and scope of livestock entities, while leaving the environmental regulations centrally monitored by the state Health Department.
• Creation of a central repository of all zoning regulations dealing with animal agriculture within the state Health Department to ease evaluation of livestock "friendly" areas.
• Expansion of the drought disaster livestock water assistance program to provide assistance to cattle owners impacted by water shortages due to drought.
• An incentive to retain and recruit veterinarians by increasing tuition help and loan repayment assistance for those who will practice in the state.
• Provision for an annual permit to allow for overweight loads on the Interstate highways.
• A $7.3 million Governor's Ethanol Production Incentive Fund; counter-cyclical support for ethanol plants.
• A $2.2 million sales and use tax exemption for materials used to construct co-generation power plants in conjunction with value added agriculture projects.
• Expansion of Value Added Agriculture Investment Tax Credits with the potential to generate investments in 10 projects per year, including renewable energy projects. Five projects with $10 million in investments could result in $100 million in projects over the biennium.
• A requirement for ethanol blend pumps to have an ethanol promotion label.

In addition our Centers of Excellence for Agbiotechnology and Oilseed Development will enable us to further develop and enhance biodiesel.

The State of North Dakota is partnering with industry, farmers, and our university system to develop and deploy new technologies, to build the infrastructure, and to create new opportunities for North Dakota farmers and ranchers.

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