69-2-15 - Interest loans from Emerging Crops Fund.
§ 69-2-15. Interest loans from Emerging Crops Fund.
(1) Any lender which has made a loan to a farmer to finance the nonland capital costs of establishing production of an emerging crop on land in Mississippi may make application to the department for payment of the interest on the loan during the period from beginning of production to harvest or initial sale of the product, which payment shall be made from the fund. The maximum amount of interest loans from the fund for the benefit of any one (1) farmer shall be Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00). During the period that the department pays the interest on a loan, the maximum rate of interest which may be charged on the loan by the lender shall be four percent (4%) per annum above the New York prime rate. By payment of the interest on a loan, neither the department nor the State of Mississippi shall be a guarantor of the loan, but the state shall have a lien junior to any lien that the lender may have on the loan.
(2) If a farmer defaults on the interest loan the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall take the necessary legal action, as soon as practicable, to recover the monies due and owing to the State of Mississippi. A suit against a defaulting party under this section may be brought in the county in which the lender is located, or in any Hinds County court.
Sources: Laws, 1987, ch. 482, § 8; Laws, 1988, ch. 356, § 2, eff from and after passage (approved April 15, 1988).