(1) The council shall be composed of the Chairman and Vice-chairman, House of Representatives and Senate Agriculture Committees, or their designees, the Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, the Director of the Department of Economic Development, and the Vice-President, Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine of Mississippi State University, Alcorn State University, Divisional Director of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, who shall enter into a cooperative agreement to identify resource availability and personnel expertise in all areas directly or indirectly related to agricultural production, management and marketing as may be deemed necessary to achieve the purposes of Sections 69-1-101 through 69-1-117. The cooperative agreement between the agencies shall include, but not be limited to, provisions that Mississippi State University through the Cooperative Extension Service, the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Forest Products Labs shall provide technical, educational and direct marketing assistance; basic and applied research, technology transfer, dissemination of research information, interdisciplinary teams, feasibility studies and networking; the Department of Agriculture and Commerce shall be primarily responsible for market development, product promotion, regulatory functions in developing market standards, monitoring standards and establishment of quality control; public relations for Mississippi agriculture, institutional marketing and data collection; the Department of Economic Development shall be primarily responsible for agriculture business and economic development, and financial assistance value added processing. All council member agencies are hereby authorized and directed to utilize and share any and all available resources necessary to accomplish the purposes of Sections 69-1-101 through 69-1-117.

In addition, the council shall be authorized to contract or enter into agreements with other agencies and/or private research centers that it may deem necessary to carry out its duties and functions.

The council shall prepare and submit a comprehensive annual report to the Legislature no later than January 15 of each year.

(2) The council shall appoint an Agricultural Marketing Director, herein called director, who shall be competent and qualified in the area of marketing, agriculture or a related area and receive as compensation for services an annual salary to be established by the personnel board. The director shall be the one-point information contact on agricultural production, management and marketing issues and shall be charged with the duty of knowing the role and responsible personnel in each agency on matters related to agriculture. The director shall be directly responsible to the council for tasks assigned in the administration and implementation of programs developed by the council. The director shall be located in the Department of Agriculture and Commerce and administrative support for the director shall be the shared responsibility of the members of the council.

Any expenses incurred by the council agencies in providing support for the Mississippi Marketing of Agricultural Products and Industry program shall be included pro rata in the annual budget of the respective agency.