As used in this article:
(1) "Department" means the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.
(2) "Fair market value" means the value based on the average market price being paid to producers on a specified date by the three licensed grain dealers nearest the grain dealer involved in the loss.
(3) "Grain" means any feed grains or oil seeds, except cotton seeds.
(4) "Grain dealer" means any person engaged in this State in buying, receiving, selling, exchanging, negotiating, processing for resale, or soliciting the sale, resale, exchange, or transfer of grain purchased from the producer or his agent or representative or received to be handled on a net return basis from the producer.
(5) "Loss" means any monetary loss over and beyond the amount protected by the dealer's bond as a result of doing business with a dealer which includes, but is not limited to, bankruptcy, embezzlement, or fraud.
(6) "Producer" means any producer of grain.
(7) "Date of loss" means the date the grain dealer filed a petition for bankruptcy; or, if bankruptcy is not declared, the date a check was returned for insufficient funds, or the date otherwise determined by the department.
HISTORY: 1981 Act No. 156 Section 28; 1988 Act No. 435, eff April 5, 1988.