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As used in this Chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1)  “Agribusiness” means a person, other than an agricultural producer, who engages in agriculture or provides support activities, products, or services to an agricultural producer and such products or services that are directly related to the planting, growing, production, or harvesting of crops and livestock.

(2)  “Agricultural loan” means a loan made to any person for the purpose of financing: land acquisition or improvement for agricultural or agribusiness purposes; conversion to aquacultural production; soil conservation; construction of levees and ponds; irrigation; water well drilling; construction, renovation, or expansion of buildings and facilities for agricultural or agribusiness purposes; purchase of farm fixtures, livestock, poultry, fish of any kind; crustaceans and mollusks; seeds; fertilizers; pesticides; feeds; agricultural or agribusiness machinery; equipment; containers or supplies employed in the production, cultivation, harvesting, storage, marketing, distribution, or export of agricultural products, or for the purpose of financing agricultural products.

(3)  “Agricultural plant” means any facility which receives raw agricultural products for the purpose of rendering them suitable for wholesale or retail marketing.

(4)  “Agricultural producer” means a person engaged in agriculture for the planting, growing, harvesting, or production of an agricultural product in its natural state and who primarily assumes the production and market risks associated with such activities.

(5)  “Agricultural product” means any agronomic, aquacultural, floricultural, horticultural, maricultural, silvicultural, or viticultural crop, livestock, or product.

(6)  “Agriculture” means the commercial planting, growing, harvesting, production, storage, processing, marketing, distribution, or export of any agricultural product, including but not limited to farm products, livestock and livestock products, poultry and poultry products, milk and dairy products, fruit and other horticultural products, and seafood and aquacultural products.

(7)  “Aquaculture” means the commercial production, storage, processing, marketing, distribution, or export of any seafood including but not limited to catfish, trout, crustaceans, and mollusks.

(8)  “Authority” means the Louisiana Agricultural Finance Authority created by this Chapter.

(9)  “Bonds” means the bonds, notes, renewal notes, refunding bonds, interim certificates, certificates of indebtedness, debentures, warrants, commercial paper, or other obligations or evidences of indebtedness authorized to be issued by the Authority pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter.

(10)  “Commissioner” means the Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry.

(11)  “Department” means the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.

(12)  “Federal government” means the United States of America and any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America.

(13)  “Lending institution” means any bank, bank or trust company, federal land bank, production credit association, bank for cooperatives, building and loan association, homestead, insurance company, investment banker, mortgage banker or company, pension or retirement fund, savings bank or savings and loan association, small business investment company, credit union, or any other financial institution authorized to do business in Louisiana or operating under the supervision of any federal agency or any “Edge Act Corporation” or agreement corporation organized or operating pursuant to Section 25 of the Federal Reserve Act.

(14)  “Livestock” means any animal except dogs and cats, bred, kept, maintained, raised, or used for profit, that is used in agriculture, aquaculture, agritourism, competition, recreation, or silviculture, or for other related purposes or used in the production of crops, animals, or plant or animal products for market.  This definition includes but is not limited to cattle, buffalo, bison, oxen, and other bovine; horses, mules, donkeys, and other equine; goats; sheep; swine; chickens, turkeys, and other poultry; domestic rabbits; imported exotic deer and antelope, elk, farm-raised white-tailed deer, farm-raised ratites, and other farm-raised exotic animals; fish, turtles, and other animals identified with aquaculture which are located in artificial reservoirs or enclosures that are both on privately owned property and constructed so as to prevent, at all times, the ingress and egress of fish life from public waters; any commercial crawfish from any crawfish pond; and any hybrid, mixture, or mutation of any such animal.

(15)  “Mariculture” means aquaculture which is practiced in brackish or saline water and includes hatchery breeding, spawning, transportation, implantation, propagation, growout, and harvesting of domesticated fish and other domesticated aquatic species.

(16)  “Persons” means any individual, partnership, firm, corporation, company, cooperative, association, society, trust, limited liability company, or any other business unit or entity, including any state or federal agency.

(17)  “Processing or process” means any action that will enhance any raw agricultural product’s value or render a raw agricultural product suitable for further refinement or introduction at a marketing level.

(18)  “State” means the state of Louisiana or any agency or instrumentality thereof.

Added by Acts 1983, No. 96, §1, eff. July 23, 1983. Acts 1987, No. 502, §1; Acts 2009, No. 510, §1, eff. July 10, 2009.