(1)  In addition to the purposes of the "Montana Growth Through Agriculture Act" as set forth in 90-9-102, MCA, the purpose of the marketing and business development program is to find new or expanded markets for the products, processes, and technologies of Montana agricultural businesses.

(2)  The agricultural marketing and business development program will coordinate with existing department marketing programs and the market development activities of the department of agriculture.

(3)  The marketing development program shall support both domestic marketing and international trade efforts.

(4)  The goals of the marketing development program are to:

(a)  increase sales of the products, processes, and technologies of Montana agricultural businesses on a state, national, and international level;

(b)  open or expand markets for new or specialty products;

(c)  monitor new and changing markets and market conditions, and provide Montana producers with such information;

(d)  improve, expand, or create new relationships between buyers and sellers of the products, processes, and technologies of Montana agricultural businesses;

(e)  encourage the expansion of value-added production, processes, and technologies in Montana.

(5)  The council will identify, at regularly scheduled meetings at which public comment will be invited, the markets, products, processes, and technologies it seeks to study, expand, or otherwise develop.

(a)  the council shall advertise requests for proposals in compliance with applicable Montana law and shall consider

the comments received at its meetings when determining which types of proposals should be requested.

(b)  at a minimum, requests for proposals will include the following:

(i)  specific criteria by which proposals will be selected;

(ii)  the establishment of milestones for evaluating the progress and success of the proposals;

(iii)  a schedule for the submission of periodic progress reports.