Title 4.1, Agriculture

The commissioner may suspend or revoke the license of a grain buyer for cause upon notice and hearing. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the commissioner shall suspend the license of a grain buyer for failure at any time to maintain a bond.

Every grain buyer, upon receiving grain, shall issue a uniform scale ticket or comparable receipt for each load of grain received. Receipts must be numbered consecutively and one copy of each receipt must be retained and remain as a permanent record. The original receipt must be …

1. A grain buyer may not purchase grain by a credit-sale contract except as provided in this section. All credit-sale contracts must be in writing and must be consecutively numbered when printing the contract. The grain buyer shall maintain an accurate record of all credit-sale c…

1. A grain buyer may not discriminate: a. In the buying, selling, receiving, and handling of grain or in the charges made or the service rendered to owners of purchased grain; b. In the receiving of grain offered for sale, but this chapter does not require a processor to receive …

A grain buyer shall keep such accounts, records, and memoranda concerning the buyer's dealing as the grain buyer as may be required by the commissioner and shall make any reports of purchases of grain as may be required by the rules adopted by the commissioner. The commissioner a…

1. Each licensed and bonded grain buyer shall: a. Prepare for each month a report giving facts and information called for on the form of report prepared by the commissioner. (1) The report must contain or be verified by a written declaration the report is made under the penalties…

A person purchasing grain may not use any measure for the grain other than the standard bushel, and a number of pounds may not be used or called a bushel other than the number of pounds provided by law as the standard weight of the kind of grain in question, except that during th…

1. A grain buyer shall purchase grain, except dry edible beans, in accordance with the official grades established by the secretary of agriculture of the United States, except as otherwise provided in applicable rules and regulations adopted by federal officials pursuant to law. …

A grain buyer, before testing for grade any grain handled by the grain buyer, shall remove and make due allowance for any dockage of the grain made by reason of the presence of straw, weed seeds, dirt, or any other foreign matter. A grain buyer that violates this provision is gui…

A licensee is insolvent when the licensee refuses, neglects, or is unable upon proper written demand, including electronic communication, to pay for grain purchased or marketed by the licensee or is unable to make redelivery upon proper written demand, including electronic commun…

1. Upon the insolvency of a licensee, a trust fund must be established for the benefit of noncredit-sale receiptholders and to pay the costs incurred by the commissioner in the administration of the insolvency. The trust fund consists of the following: a. Nonwarehouse receipt gra…

Each surety on the insolvent licensee's bonds must be joined as a party to the insolvency proceeding. If it is in the best interests of the receiptholders, the court may order a surety to deposit some or all of the penal sum of the bond into the trustee's trust account pending de…

A licensed grain broker may be joined as a party to an insolvency proceeding if the commissioner determines the grain broker negotiated a grain transaction with an insolvent grain buyer or which was discriminatory, predatory, or in bad faith.

1. Upon the commissioner's appointment, the commissioner may take possession of relevant books and records of the licensee. 2. If the insolvency involves a roving grain buyer, the commissioner shall publish a notice of the commissioner's appointment once each week for two consecu…

A receiptholder does not have a separate claim for relief upon any insolvent licensee's bond, for insurance, against any person converting grain, nor against any other receiptholder, except through the trustee, unless, upon demand of five or more receiptholders, the commissioner …

Upon the commissioner's appointment, the commissioner shall marshall all trust fund assets. The commissioner may maintain suits in the name of the state of North Dakota for the benefit of all receiptholders against the licensee's bonds, insurers of grain, any person that may have…

The commissioner may: 1. Prosecute an action provided in sections 4.1-59-21 through 4.1-59-31 in any court in this state or in any other state. 2. Appeal from an adverse judgment to the courts of last resort. 3. Settle and compromise an action if it will be in the best interests …

1. Upon the receipt and evaluation of claims, the commissioner shall file a report showing the amount and validity of each claim after recognizing: a. Relevant liens or pledges. b. Relevant assignments. c. Relevant deductions due to advances or offsets accrued in favor of the lic…

1. The commissioner may not be required to pay any filing fee or other court costs or disbursements. 2. The attorney general may appoint outside legal counsel to assist the commissioner in the prosecution of the action and the cost of employing outside counsel must be paid from t…

If a person engages in an activity or practice contrary to the provisions of this chapter or related rules, the commissioner, upon the commissioner's own motion without complaint, with or without hearing, may order the person to cease and desist from the activity until further or…

If a written contract for the sale of grain does not contain provisions to settle disagreements concerning factors not governed by section 4.1-59-04, the parties shall attempt to resolve the disagreements through mediation or arbitration.

Notwithstanding any other law, this chapter does not apply to any person that purchases, solicits, or merchandises grain, that has been cleaned, processed, and made ready for consumption, from a public warehouseman licensed and bonded under chapter 4.1-58. If the person engages i…

1. A person violating a provision of this chapter or a rule adopted pursuant to this chapter, if punishment is not specifically provided for, is: a. Guilty of an infraction; and b. Subject to a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed five thousand dollars for each violation. 2. …

The commissioner may require every association, copartnership, corporation, or limited liability company conducting a public elevator or warehouse in this state to adopt a uniform accounting system established by the commissioner.

The commissioner may install, and if requested by not less than fifteen percent of the partners, stockholders, or members of any association, copartnership, corporation, or limited liability company conducting the public elevator or warehouse, shall install, the uniform system of…

1. If the commissioner is satisfied from the commissioner's examination that the association, copartnership, corporation, or limited liability company examined is solvent and the method of doing business is likely to be beneficial to all its members or persons interested therein,…

For installing a uniform accounting system and examining the financial accounts of an elevator or public warehouse, an association, copartnership, corporation, or limited liability company shall pay the examiner a reasonable fee, as determined by the commissioner. If an associati…

An assessment at the rate of two-tenths of one percent is placed on the value of all grain sold in this state under a credit-sale contract, as provided for in sections 4.1-58-17 and 4.1-59-13. The licensee purchasing the grain shall note the assessment on the contract required un…

There is created in the state treasury the credit-sale contract indemnity fund. The state treasurer shall invest available moneys in the fund in accordance with section 21-10-07 and in cooperation with the commissioner shall deposit any income earned through the investments into …

At the end of the calendar quarter in which the credit-sale contract indemnity fund reaches a level of six million dollars, the commissioner shall suspend collection of the assessment required by this chapter. If after suspension of collection the balance in the fund is less than…

A person is eligible to receive indemnity payments from the credit-sale contract indemnity fund if: 1. After August 1, 2003, the person sold grain to a licensed warehouse or a grain buyer in this state under a credit-sale contract; 2. The licensed warehouse to which the person so…

Upon the insolvency of a licensed warehouse or a grain buyer and a declaration the commissioner serve as the trustee, the commissioner shall make the proceeds of the credit-sale contract indemnity fund available for use in meeting the licensee's obligations with respect to the re…

The amount payable to an eligible person from the credit-sale contract indemnity fund for each insolvency may not exceed the lesser of eighty percent of the amount owed to that eligible person in accordance with all of that person's unsatisfied credit-sale contracts or two hundre…

If claims for indemnity payments from the credit-sale contract indemnity fund exceed the amount in the fund, the commissioner shall prorate the claims and pay the prorated amounts. As future assessments are collected, the commissioner shall continue to forward indemnity payments …

The commissioner shall ensure all persons eligible for payment from the indemnity fund as a result of an insolvency are fully compensated to the extent permitted by this chapter before any payments from the indemnity fund are initiated as a result of a later insolvency. The chron…

Any expense incurred by the commissioner in administrating the credit-sale contract indemnity must be reimbursed from the fund before any other claim for indemnity is paid.

A person that knowingly or intentionally refuses or fails to collect the assessment required under this chapter from producers or to submit any assessment collected from producers to the commissioner for deposit in the credit-sale contract indemnity fund is guilty of a class A mi…

The commissioner may suspend or revoke the license of a licensee for cause upon notice and hearing for violation of this chapter.

If a person engages in an activity or practice contrary to this chapter or rules adopted by the commissioner, the commissioner, upon the commissioner's own motion without complaint and with or without a hearing, may order the person to cease and desist from the activity until fur…

A claim concerning a grain buyer must be administered in a manner consistent with chapter 4.1-59. A claim concerning a state licensed grain warehouse must be administered in a manner consistent with chapter 4.1-58. A payment may not be made from the credit-sale contract indemnity…

Money paid from the credit-sale contract indemnity fund in satisfaction of a valid claim constitutes a debt obligation of the person against which the claim was made. The commissioner may take action on behalf of the fund against a person to recover the amount of payment made, pl…

Notwithstanding any other law, this chapter does not apply to a person that purchases, solicits, or merchandises grain, that has been cleaned, processed, and made ready for consumption, from a public warehouseman licensed and bonded under chapter 4.1-58. If the person engages in …

1. The North Dakota stockmen's association is a livestock association organized under the laws of this state and registered as a market agency under the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 [7 U.S.C. 181 et seq.]: a. For the protection of the livestock industry of this state; and b. …

The North Dakota stockmen's association may not discriminate between members of the association and persons who are not members of the association with respect to fees, recordings, complaints, requests for assistance, or any other duties assigned under this chapter.

The North Dakota stockmen's association shall: 1. Maintain an office for recording brands; and 2. Employ an individual to serve as the chief brand inspector of this state.

The chief brand inspector and any individual employed by the North Dakota stockmen's association to serve as a deputy brand inspector must be licensed peace officers in accordance with chapter 12-63 or hold a limited peace officer license under section 12-63-09. As used in this s…