348.015.  Definitions. — As used in sections 348.005 to 348.225, the following terms shall mean:

  (1)  "Agricultural development loan", a loan for the acquisition, construction, improvement, or rehabilitation of agricultural property;

  (2)  "Agricultural property", any land and easements and real and personal property, including, but not limited to, buildings, structures, improvements, equipment, and livestock, which is used or is to be used in Missouri by Missouri residents for:

  (a)  The operation of a farm or ranch;

  (b)  Planting, cultivating, or harvesting cereals, natural fibers, fruits, vegetables, or trees;

  (c)  Grazing, feeding, or the care of livestock, poultry, or fish;

  (d)  Dairy production;

  (e)  Storing, transporting, or processing farm and ranch products, including, without limitation, facilities such as grain elevators, cotton gins, shipping heads, livestock pens, warehouses, wharfs, docks, creameries, or feed plants;

  (f)  Supplying and conserving water, draining or irrigating land, collecting, treating, and disposing of liquid and solid waste, or controlling pollution, as needed for the operations set out in this subdivision; and

  (g)  A vermiculture operation.  For purposes of this paragraph, "vermiculture" means the raising of earthworms under a controlled environment;

  (3)  "Authority", the Missouri agricultural and small business development authority organized pursuant to the provisions of sections 348.005 to 348.180;

  (4)  "Bonds", any bonds, notes, debentures, interim certificates, bond, grant, or revenue anticipation notes, or any other evidences of indebtedness;

  (5)  "Borrower", any individual, partnership, corporation, including a corporation or other entity organized pursuant to section 274.220, firm, cooperative, association, trust, estate, political subdivision, state agency, or other legal entity or its representative executing a note or other evidence of a loan;

  (6)  "Eligible borrower", a borrower qualifying for an agricultural development loan, a small business development loan, or a small business pollution control facility loan under such criteria and priorities as may be established in rules of the authority or in procedural manuals issued thereunder for the purpose of directing the use of available loan funds on the basis of need for and value of each loan for the maintenance of the agricultural economy or small business and on the meeting of pollution control objectives and assuring conformity with conditions established by insurers or guarantors of loans and the preservation of the security of bonds or notes issued to finance the loan;

  (7)  "Insurer" or "guarantor", the Farmers Home Administration of the Department of Agriculture of the United States, the United States Small Business Administration, or any other or successor agency or instrumentality of the United States having power, or any insurance company qualified under Missouri law, to ensure or guarantee the payment of agricultural development loans, small business development loans, or small business pollution control facility loans and interest thereon, or any portion thereof;

  (8)  "Lender", any state or national bank, federal land bank, production credit association, bank for cooperatives, federal or state-chartered savings and loan association or building and loan association or small business investment company that is subject to credit examination by an agency of the state or federal government, or any other lending institution approved by the insurer or guarantor of an agricultural development loan, small business development loan, or small business pollution control facility loan which undertakes to make or service such a loan;

  (9)  "Pollution", any form of environmental pollution including, but not limited to, water pollution, air pollution, land pollution, solid waste pollution, thermal pollution, radiation contamination, or noise pollution;

  (10)  "Pollution control facility" or "facilities", any land, interest in land, building, structure, facility, system, fixture, improvement, appurtenance, machinery, equipment, or any combination thereof, and all real and personal property deemed necessary therewith, having to do with, or the end purpose of which is, reducing, controlling, or preventing pollution;

  (11)  "Small business", those enterprises which, at the time of their application to the authority, meet the criteria, as interpreted and applied by the authority, for definition as a "small business" established for the Small Business Administration and set forth in Section 121.301 of Part 121 of Title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations;

  (12)  "Small business development loan", a loan for the acquisition, construction, improvement, or rehabilitation of property owned or to be acquired by a small business as defined herein;

  (13)  "Small business pollution control facility loan", a loan for the acquisition, construction, improvement, or rehabilitation of a pollution control facility or facilities by a small business;

  (14)  "Value-added agricultural products", any product or products that are the result of:

  (a)  Using an agricultural product grown in this state to produce a meat or dairy product in this state;

  (b)  A change in the physical state or form of the original agricultural product;

  (c)  An agricultural product grown in this state whose value has been enhanced by special production methods such as organically grown products; or

  (d)  A physical segregation of a commodity or agricultural product grown in this state that enhances its value such as identity preserved marketing systems.