A.  The State Department of Agriculture shall require eligible applicants to submit information, forms and reports as are necessary to properly and efficiently administer the Oklahoma Agriculture Enhancement and Diversification Program.

B.  Persons may apply to the State Department of Agriculture for grant or loan funds to develop or implement research or marketing and utilization or farm diversification plans, in accordance with rules promulgated by the State Board of Agriculture.  Applications for grant or loan funds shall be approved or denied by the Department in accordance with criteria promulgated by the Board pursuant to the Oklahoma Agriculture Enhancement and Diversification Program.

C.  The Commissioner of Agriculture may also allocate monies from the fund to eligible applicants on a matching basis.

D.  Grant or loan funds may be made available to eligible applicants pursuant to evaluation by the Department based on the following criteria:

1.  Preference will be given to the applicants whose:

a.  industrial and nonfood production processes utilize agricultural products,

b.  food, feed and fiber products and uses are innovative and add to the value of agricultural products,

c.  applications demonstrate a high probability of job creation and return-on-investment,

d. proposals feature research that is innovative as well as commercially plausible,

e.  proposals demonstrate a high probability of rapid commercialization,

f.  projects demonstrate a shared commitment for funding from other private or public sources or from the applicant,

g. proposals center efforts on nonurban locales,

h.  principals are individuals, a group of individuals, an individual on behalf of a group, or corporations which meet the criteria set forth in Section 951 of Title 18 of the Oklahoma Statutes, to market a product or formulate or implement a marketing plan for products which have not been marketed through existing marketing cooperatives,

i.   proposals must contain the potential to create additional income for the farm unit, and

j.   proposals must provide for new and innovative plans for marketing the product; and

2.  Consideration shall not be given to applications for:

a.   research or marketing plans which do not clearly meet the stated objectives of the Oklahoma Agriculture Enhancement and Diversification Act,

b.   proposals which are aimed solely at business expansion or creation without regard to agricultural products utilization, and

c.   research or marketing plans that cannot reasonably be expected to result in a viable commercial application, or that are or have been duplicated by other research efforts.

E.1.  Any information submitted to or compiled by the State Department of Agriculture, with respect to the marketing plans, financial statements, trade secrets, research concepts, methods or products, or any other proprietary information of persons, firms, associations, partnerships, agencies, corporations, institutions of higher education, nonprofit research institutions or other entities pursuant to the Oklahoma Agriculture Enhancement and Diversification Program shall not be disclosed in public hearings and shall be kept confidential, except to the extent that the person or entity which provided such information or which is the subject of such information consents to disclosure.

2.  Executive sessions may be held to discuss such materials if deemed necessary by the Board.