260.030 Functions of Office of Agricultural Marketing

260.030 Functions of Office of Agricultural Marketing.

(1) The Office of Agricultural Marketing shall:

(a) Promote and develop markets for Kentucky agricultural products, assist in

setting up farm cooperatives, and assist in coordinating feasibility studies,

loans, grants, and funding activities for producers and cooperatives;

(b) Gather and disseminate information concerning supply, demand, prevailing

prices, and commercial movement, including common and cold storage of

food products, and maintain market news service for the purpose of

disseminating this information;

(c) Foster and encourage the inspection, grading, standardizing, labeling, and

branding of farm products; provide standards of excellence and brands for the

use of producers and consumers in the marketing of Kentucky-grown

products; and promote the standardization of packages and containers for

those purposes;

(d) Promulgate administrative regulations for the grading, packing, hauling,

storing, and sale of farm products if the administrative regulations are

authorized by statutes, and enforce those administrative regulations;

(e) Act as mediator or arbitrator, when invited, in any issue that may arise

between producers and distributors of agricultural products;

(f) Encourage the establishment of public markets and direct dealing between

producer and consumer;

(g) Promote the sale of Kentucky-grown products locally, and in domestic and

international markets;

(h) Encourage the development of a market for the commercial production of

earthworms;

(i) Negotiate and enter into cooperative agreements with the United States

Department of Agriculture or any other appropriate federal agency for carrying

out the provisions of this section;

(j) Develop opportunities for the diversification of Kentucky agriculture,

including additional crops and enterprises for tobacco growers; and

(k) Establish an Organic Agricultural Product Certification Program.

(2) The functions of the office shall be supplementary to, and not in duplication of, the

educational activities of the College of Agriculture of the University of Kentucky.

(3) In accomplishing its purposes, the office shall not compete with business operated

by private capital.