2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIVE - Agriculture (§§ 1 — 4706) › Chapter 15 - Tobacco (§§ 331 — 359) › § 349 - Tobacco Industry—Purchase and sale of property and products; model sheds

The Agricultural Experiment Station and the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works are hereby authorized to purchase such lands as are necessary in any tobacco district of the Commonwealth for the success of tobacco experimentation and promotion. The Agricultural Experiment Station is hereby authorized to lease any land or building in any tobacco district of the island that may be necessary for the best carrying out of the work of tobacco promotion and experimentation. It is likewise authorized to transfer by sale any property, exclusive of land, the ownership of which is not indispensable or necessary for the operation of §§ 348—350 and 352 of this title; and also to sell the products of the central station and substations; Provided, That none of the powers granted by §§ 348—350 and 352 of this title to the Agricultural Experiment Station shall be construed to mean that it is authorized to expend the funds of the Agricultural Experiment Station in businesses or industries which may be in conflict with the tobacco business and industry.
The Agricultural Experiment Station may determine the advisability, and provide for the construction, of model sheds for the drying of tobacco, whether it be on its own lands or on the lands of those bona fide tobacco growers who, because of their financial condition, agricultural experience, and other qualifications which the Agricultural Experiment Station may prescribe, may serve as an example to other growers in the respective tobacco districts of the Commonwealth, to stimulate and promote the improvement of the methods to be put into practice for the drying and treatment of the tobacco leaf from the moment it is harvested until its delivery at the establishments in which later it is to be cured, stripped, or manufactured. The Agricultural Experiment Station shall fix the terms, conditions, unit costs, location, and other requirements to be met for the construction of such model sheds, as well as the requirements, conditions, terms, and other qualifications to be met in connection with the lands on which such model sheds are to be installed, located, and constructed, and in regard to the bona fide tobacco growers who are to have possession thereof and to enjoy their usufruct when such sheds are not located on lands belonging to the Agricultural Experiment Station. Said terms and conditions shall establish the rights of the Agricultural Experiment Station as well as of the bona fide tobacco growers to whom said model tobacco sheds are to be assigned, as regards to ownership, use, conservation, and removal of said model sheds, their sale, lease, or donation, and the amounts, if any, to be paid, and conditions to be met, by said growers for any of said reasons, and the instalments to be allowed for such payments, if any. The Agricultural Experiment Station may annually expend in the construction of model sheds for drying and sweating, as herein provided, up to an amount which in no case shall exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of the annual proceeds from the tax levied by Act No. 151, of May 15, 1937, as amended by Act No. 76, of April 26, 1940.
History —May 11, 1937, No. 89, p. 221, § 9; Apr. 6, 1942, No. 18, p. 324, § 3.