2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 3 - Executive
Chapter 17 - Department of Agriculture
§ 291. Powers and duties of the Department
- The Department, through the Commissioner, is empowered and has the duty to:
(1) promote, administer, and enforce the programs under Title 7 of this code;
(2) promote, assist, and encourage good relations and services among producers, distributors and consumers of food products;
(3) maintain reliable information on the cost of agriculture production and marketing;
(4) supervise and regulate, in accordance with law, grain warehouses, conservation programs, extension programs, experimental agriculture stations, and farms;
(5) inspect and regulate, pursuant to law, all slaughter pens and houses, vegetable and fruit markets, farms, gardens or orchards engaged in the production of fruits and vegetables, plant nurseries, and imported fruit, vegetables and plant life;
(6) inspect and regulate the manufacture, distribution, and sale of fertilizers;
(7) inspect and regulate, in accordance with law, the grading, packaging, storage and sale of all locally grown fruit and vegetables and animal products;
(8) investigate and regulate insect and plant diseases;
(9) administer and enforce laws regulating aquaculture;
(10) coordinate and cooperate in federally aided or sponsored agricultural programs sponsored or required by the Government of the United States and enter into contracts or agreements for participation in such programs, and to comply with the federal requirements for agricultural programs;
(11) prepare a strategy for the preservation and expansion of locally produced agricultural products in the Virgin Islands;
(12) supervise and regulate, in accordance with law, all public veterinary services;
(13) inspect and regulate, in accordance with law, meat and poultry markets, including cold storage meat and poultry, all imported meats and poultry and meat and poultry foodstuffs, the manufacture, distribution, and sale of animal feeds and feedstuffs, and any animal terminals or depots established in the Territory;
(14) investigate the causes, modes of propagation and means of prevention and control of animal and plant diseases;
(15) promulgate rules and regulations for the effective exercise of its powers and duties;
(16) prepare an annual budget for all Department operations for timely submission to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
