Okla. Stat. tit. 2, § 2-5-3.4: Grants or loan funds – Applications – Evaluation criteria

– Proprietary information.

A. The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry

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 Department for grant or loan funds

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 State Board of Agriculture pursuant to the Oklahoma

Agriculture Enhancement and Diversification Program.

C. Grant or loan funds may be made available to eligible

applicants pursuant to evaluation by the Department based on the

following criteria:

1. Preference may 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

agricultural products produced or processed in

Oklahoma,

i. proposals contain the potential to create additional

income for the farm unit,

j. proposals provide for new and innovative plans for

marketing the product, and

k. proposals for agricultural events that expose new

audiences to agriculture or benefit the entire state

or a large geographic region of the state; 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,

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,

d. proposals for agricultural events that do not result

in expansion of the event or encourage additional

public interest in the event, or

e. proposals for growing or any other aspect of medical

marijuana.

D. 1. Any information submitted to or compiled by the

Department 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 pursuant to the Oklahoma Open Records

Act or 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. In the event that an independent group of reviewers is used

to analyze and recommend projects for approval by the Board, any

meeting of such group shall be exempt from the Oklahoma Open Meeting

Act.