Subdivision 1.Generally.

The commissioner shall make funds available to eligible regional or statewide development organizations defined under section 116J.8731 to be used for the purposes of this section.

Subd. 2.Eligible expenditures.

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Money may be used for loans for the acquisition, construction, or improvement of buildings or facilities, or the acquisition of equipment, for dairy animal housing, confinement, animal feeding, milk production, and waste management, including the following, if related to dairy animals:

(1) free-stall barns;

(2) fences;

(3) watering facilities;

(4) feed storage and handling equipment;

(5) milking parlors;

(6) robotic equipment;

(7) scales;

(8) milk storage and cooling facilities;

(9) bulk tanks;

(10) manure pumping and storage facilities;

(11) digesters;

(12) equipment used to produce energy;

(13) capital investment in pasture; and

(14) on-farm processing facilities.

Subd. 3.Application process.

The commissioner of agriculture and the commissioner of employment and economic development shall establish a process by which an eligible dairy producer may make application for assistance under this section to the county in which the producer is located. The application must require the producer and county to provide information regarding the producer’s existing business, the intended use of the requested funds, and other information the commissioners find necessary to evaluate the feasibility, likely success, and economic return of the project, and to ensure that money can be provided consistent with other state and federal laws.