Appropriations panel questions ROI on APUC grants, weighs trade-office funding and bioscience shift

The House Appropriations Government Operations Division on Tuesday pressed the North Dakota Department of Agriculture for clearer performance metrics on grant programs and debated several budget adjustments, including a $3 million addition to Agricultural Products Utilization Commission (APUC) funding authority, a $2 million authority increase to the specialty-crop block grant program and a $400,000 restoration for the North Dakota Trade Office.

Lawmakers repeatedly asked department officials for measurable results tied to many small grants, questioning how the state evaluates return on investment for APUC and related programs. “I can’t find one mention of if the program was successful, or if it did anything, or if it accomplished anything, or if we got a return on investment,” Representative Bosch said after reviewing the APUC grant booklet. Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring replied that the department does follow up on projects and cited examples of businesses the program helped commercialize.

Why it matters: the committee is setting base appropriations and authorities that let the department accept and pass through federal and other special funds. Those authorizations shape whether grants and trade promotion programs continue to receive taxpayer or public-corporation support and whether state funding is allocated to new FTEs or operating costs.

APUC grants and metrics

Members asked for more consistent outcome reporting on APUC grants. Representative Bosch and others said the APUC packet lists…