Section 205-46.5 - Agricultural processing facilities; permits; priority(a) Any agency subject to this chapter or title 13 that issues permits shall establish and implement a procedure for the priority processing of permit applications and renewals, at no additional cost to the applicant, for agricultural processing facilities that process crops or livestock from an agribusiness; provided that the majority of the lands held, owned, or used by the agribusiness shall be land designated as important agricultural lands pursuant to this part, excluding lands held, owned, or used by the agribusiness in a conservation district. Any priority permit processing procedure established pursuant to this section shall not provide or imply that any permit application filed under the priority processing procedure shall be automatically approved.
(b) As used in this section, "agribusiness" means a business primarily engaged in the care and production of livestock, livestock products, poultry, poultry products, apiary, horticultural or floricultural products, the planting, cultivating, and harvesting of crops or trees, or the farming or ranching of any plant or animal species in a controlled salt, brackish, or fresh water environment.