(505 ILCS 135/1) (from Ch. 5, par. 2651) Sec. 1. This Act shall be known and may be cited as the Sustainable Agriculture Act. (Source: P.A. 86-1022.)

(505 ILCS 135/2) (from Ch. 5, par. 2652) Sec. 2. Findings. It is the intent of this Act to provide for funding of the developmental research program that serves production agriculture in Illinois. Illinois is blessed with some of the richest agricultural soils and the most favorable agricultural climate of any land area in the world of similar size. An economically competitive production agriculture in Illinois is essential to sustaining Illinois farmers plus a vast infrastructure of the State's input, processing, distribution and marketing industries and financial institutions and provides the economic base for many rural communities and municipalities. Production agriculture in Illinois faces rapidly growing competition for international markets, for which the basis of competition is cost of production. In order to compete effectively, agricultural producers in Illinois must be the early and most effective adapters of new productivity-enhancing, cost-cutting and quality-improving technology. In addition, in order to sustain a high level of agricultural production into the twenty-first century and beyond, it is critical to determine the optimum methods for production agriculture which result in the best return for the farm and best preserves the environment and the farmland of Illinois. The Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station's Office of Research and farm system are essential to conducting research that tests and compares promising new agricultural practices and products, selecting those that are most appropriate for Illinois, tailoring them to the specific agricultural conditions of Illinois and generating information that helps Illinois farmers assemble them into effective farming systems, thus achieving competitive advantages for Illinois. Tremendous numbers of new practices and products are becoming available because of increased public and private research around the world, and this rate of development will increase in the future, requiring a much stronger and more sophisticated adaptive research program. Research conducted in the research farm system permits Illinois to capture the economic benefits of worldwide agricultural research and product development. The State's investment in utilization and marketing research will have little benefit for the present and future of Illinois unless Illinois farmers are the low-cost producers of the raw materials for new food and non-food uses, use production methods which preserve the farmland and guarantee future productivity, and employ some of the utilization and marketing technologies which can be implemented on Illinois farms as efficient production practices. (Source: P.A. 92-110, eff. 7-20-01.)

(505 ILCS 135/3) (from Ch. 5, par. 2653) Sec. 3. There is hereby established in the Department of Agriculture a program to be known as the "Sustainable Agriculture Program". The purposes of the program are as follows: (1) To identify agricultural practices that maintain productivity and minimize environmental degradation. (2) To relate overland runoff, sediment transport, streamflow quantity and quality, and ground water quantity (recharge) and quality to specific agricultural practices. (3) To integrate and coordinate experiment field and on-farm research and educational efforts of cooperating individuals, agencies, institutions, and organizations. (4) To test and refine alternative approaches to organizing and conducting on-farm research and demonstration projects. (5) To test the organizational approach of joint farmer/specialist development of a computerized decision support system (expert system) as an approach to fostering sustainable agriculture. (6) To develop an expert system embodying the expertise of experienced farmers and agency, institutional, and agribusiness specialists to help answer the question of what tillage and crop management system should be used in a particular field in a particular year. (7) To test the usefulness of the existing conservation tillage knowledge base in making tillage system selection, implementation, and management decisions. (8) To identify the most critical needs for research and educational programs related to sustainable agriculture. (Source: P.A. 86-1022.)

(505 ILCS 135/4) (from Ch. 5, par. 2654) Sec. 4. As administrator of the Sustainable Agriculture Program, the Department of Agriculture shall: (a) determine what production agriculture research projects currently being conducted fit into the purposes of this Act; (b) encourage public and private institutions, including the various public universities in this State, to establish production agriculture research projects; (c) allocate funds obtained by the Sustainable Agriculture Committee to the various research projects the Department of Agriculture determines meet the purposes of the Sustainable Agriculture Program; (d) act as a clearing house and disseminate information concerning research projects funded by the Sustainable Agriculture Program and the results of such research; and (e) adopt rules necessary to carry out this Act. (Source: P.A. 86-1022.)

(505 ILCS 135/5) (from Ch. 5, par. 2655) Sec. 5. There is hereby created the Sustainable Agriculture Committee which shall consist of 7 members as follows: one member representing and appointed by the Governor; one member representing and appointed by the Board of Higher Education; one member representing and appointed by the Department of Agriculture; and 4 members appointed by the Department of Agriculture who are farmers actively involved in production agriculture. Members of the Committee shall be appointed for a term of 5 years. It is the duty of the Committee to seek sources of funding for projects described in Section 4. These sources may be private or public, or federal, State, or local, or designated for agricultural, environmental, or other related purposes. The Committee shall act in an advisory capacity to the Department of Agriculture in program administration and funding recommendations. The Department of Agriculture may accept funds from any public or private source for the purposes specified in Section 3. Funds received shall be deposited into the State treasury into a State trust fund to be held by the Treasurer as ex-officio custodian and subject to the Comptroller -- Treasurer, voucher -- warrant system. Such funds shall be used by the Department only for the purposes specified in Section 3. (Source: P.A. 92-110, eff. 7-20-01.)

(505 ILCS 135/6) (from Ch. 5, par. 2656) Sec. 6. (Repealed). (Source: P.A. 86-1022. Repealed by P.A. 92-110, eff. 7-20-01.)