By law, the county is responsible for seeing that the noxious weed law is carried out. The CAI serves as the primary technical support to the local weed inspectors or assistant weed inspectors. The local weed inspectors are the supervisors of each town board and the mayor of each city within their respective municipalities. The CAI also serves as the liaison between the commissioner of Agriculture and the local weed inspectors.

The County Agricultural Inspector serves as the primary technical support to local weed inspectors.

Although the noxious weed law is an integral part of the CAI program, this responsibility is only about one third of the job. There are several other equally important duties of the CAI not shared with the local weed inspectors.

The County Agricultural Inspector responsibilities include:

• Minnesota Noxious Weed Law: Ensures that the rules are adopted and carried out in each city and township in Dakota County.
• Minnesota Seed Law: Ensures that rules are adopted and carried out by retail and wholesale merchants within Dakota County.
• Biological Control of Noxious Weeds: Acts as liaison and technical support for the distribution of biological methods to suppress noxious weeds.
• Distribution of Weed Control Funds: Administers funds allocated by the County Board of Commissioners.
• Reports and Training: Submits an annual report of local and county agricultural inspector(s) activities to the Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture. Provides annual training to local weed inspectors.
• General Weed Notice: Publishes a general notice regarding legal responsibilities to control noxious weeds.