266.39B - RESEARCH GRANTS.

        266.39B  RESEARCH GRANTS.
         1.  A comprehensive agricultural research program is established
      at the Leopold center for sustainable agriculture at Iowa state
      university of science and technology to provide financial assistance
      for agricultural research within Iowa.  The Leopold center shall
      establish a grant program for projects designated by the general
      assembly and other projects deemed necessary for the betterment of
      agriculture within the state.  All funds from the program shall be
      available to public and private entities in Iowa on a competitive
      grant basis.  Approved research proposals shall meet all of the
      following criteria:
         a.  The research shall assist Iowa in maintaining productive
      soil, viable communities, and farms with incomes sufficient to
      support a family.
         b.  The research shall enhance the profitability of farmers.
         c.  The research shall lead to farming which enhances and
      preserves Iowa's environment.
         2.  The research grants shall include:
         a.  Long-term and basic research with preference given to
      projects which have no traditional funding sources or require a long
      period of time to produce positive or negative results.
         b.  Emergency response research with preference given to
      projects which relate to issues expected to address problems
      occurring within the next five years, which relate to problems that
      could have substantial social and economic costs, or which offer
      research opportunities that may be lost if a delay occurs.
         c.  Grants available for matching federal or private funds for
      projects which are a necessary component of other grants or will
      produce the highest ratio of outside funds to state funds.
         d.  Crop and livestock research relating to the growth,
      processing, or marketing of agricultural output, the enhancement of
      the quality of crops, the lowering of the costs of production, or the
      avoidance of contamination to food, water, or soil.
         e.  Alternative crop research to enhance the opportunity for
      self-employment, to promote site-appropriate crops, to assist the
      state in becoming more self-sufficient in food and energy resources,
      to grow, process, and market new crops, or to develop the
      infrastructure to support new crops.
         f.  Research dissemination which will expand the knowledge of
      potential producers, or will collect, create, or disseminate
      agricultural knowledge, which will encourage the exchange of
      agriculturally related information among researchers, or which will
      provide access to farmers to information resources related to
      agriculture.
         g.  Agriculture health and safety research to identify,
      investigate, and increase awareness of agriculture safety problems,
      develop practical solutions to agriculture safety problems, develop
      ways to increase awareness and use of safety practices and devices,
      to improve medical professionals' ability to diagnose farm-related
      problems, or to reduce the accident and mortality rate in the
      agricultural industry.  
         Section History: Recent Form
         89 Acts, ch 319, §72
         Referred to in § 266.39A