§ 15-11-2-9 — Online portal

(a) As used in this section, "user" includes:
(1) a rural community;
(2) a farmer;
(3) an agribusiness; or
(4) any other individual or entity using the online portal
established under this section for the purposes described in
subsection (d).
(b) The department shall establish an online portal on the
department's website.
(c) The department shall administer the online portal.
(d) The purposes of the online portal shall be to:
(1) assist users in the successful navigation of agricultural or
related topics among various federal and state agencies;
(2) provide a single source for users to access agricultural or
related federal and state funding opportunities;
(3) provide a searchable data base of available federal and state
grants with information on eligibility and deadline criteria; and
(4) provide regular updates to reflect changes in federal and state
funding opportunities.
(e) The online portal shall include links that will facilitate the
navigation of the websites of various federal and state agencies,
including the following:
(1) The United States Department of Agriculture.
(2) The United States Department of Agriculture's Natural
Resources Conservation Service.
(3) The United States Environmental Protection Agency.
(4) The department of environmental management established by
IC 13-13-1-1.
(5) The Indiana state board of animal health established by IC 15-17-3-1.
(6) The office of state chemist (and by virtue of office, the state
seed commissioner under IC 15-15-1-26) established by IC 15-16-2-24.
(7) The office of community and rural affairs established by IC 4-4-9.7-4.
(8) Any other federal or state agency, the interaction with which
would be helpful to users.
(f) To accomplish the purposes described in subsection (d), the
online portal shall do the following:
(1) Provide a series of regulatory checklists for users that are
considering diversifying into new markets to assist users in:
(A) the navigation of agricultural and related regulations; and
(B) the avoidance of punitive enforcement actions before they
arise.
(2) Assist users in collaborating with:
(A) the Purdue University cooperative extension service;
(B) the state climate office hosted by Purdue University; and
(C) the United States Department of Agriculture;
to create a one stop venue that will help connect users with
responsive data visualization tools and technical assistance
programming.
(3) Provide a one stop venue where users may gather information
regarding, and apply for, available federal and state agricultural
and related funding opportunities.
(4) Include a link to provide users with ongoing updates on the
status of land that was identified as lost farmland included in the
department's inventory of lost farmland, and as reported by the
department, under IC 15-11-9-1.1 (before its expiration) or IC 15-11-9-1.3.
(5) Include a formal venue to collect comments from the public
regarding federal regulations that impact Indiana's rural economy
with the goal of assisting the state in providing vigorous advocacy
on behalf of the public.
(6) Include a formal venue where users may provide to the
department reviews and feedback regarding the usefulness of the
online portal.

Legislative History

As added by P.L.5-2025, SEC.1.