Sec. 5. 7 MRSA §975-A, as amended by PL 1997, c. 388, §3, is further amended to read:

§975-A. Interest on Potato Marketing Improvement

Fund balance

All or any portion of the interest earned or accruing on the cash balance of the Potato Marketing Improvement Fund may be used for grants to partially or fully fund research projects to study and assess technical problems experienced with new and retrofitted storage facilities and to develop means of dealing with such problems, or to examine, monitor and develop new technologies for the production, storage and handling of potatoes or to fund programs and activities that improve the economic viability of the potato industry.

Sec. 6. 7 MRSA §976, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 502, Pt. B, §6, is amended to read:

§976. Aroostook County office

The department shall maintain or arrange for the maintenance of an office in Aroostook County located in a town most convenient to the largest number of potential users of the Potato Marketing Improvement Fund and sufficiently close to any local office of the Maine Potato Board board as to foster a close working relationship and provide a convenience to farmers who wish to visit both agencies. This office shall must be staffed by a one or more business development specialist specialists whose responsibilities shall be are as defined by the department. The business development specialist specialists shall be available in the Aroostook County office on a regular basis.

Should the performance of the functions of the business development specialist specialists be contracted for, this

contract shall must be made by the agency managing the fund and shall must be awarded through competitive bidding.

Sec. 7. 10 MRSA §1023-N, first ¶, as enacted by PL 2001, c. 125, §6, is amended to read:

There is created a fund known as the Potato Marketing Improvement Fund, referred to in this section as the "fund." The fund must be deposited with and maintained by the authority to be used solely for investment in the Maine potato industry. The