Washington, DC, USA
November 17, 2011

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced that Farmers Ag Center, a seed company operating out of Mountain Grove, Mo., has paid $1,225 to settle alleged violations of the Federal Seed Act. The company settled the case in agreement with AMS officials. The company neither admitted nor denied the charges brought against them.

This settlement resolves three cases that involved multiple shipments––one shipment of tall fescue seed to Tennessee and two shipments of tall fescue seed to Kentucky. A portion of the shipment to Tennessee was subsequently reshipped to Georgia where it was sampled by a representative of the Georgia Department of Agriculture. The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments, were as follows:

-false labeling as to percentage of germination;
-failure to test for germination, prior to interstate shipment; and
-failure to keep, or supply conditioning records, as required by the act.

AMS administers the Federal Seed Act with the assistance of state seed officials. The investigation was completed through joint efforts by AMS and seed regulatory officials in Georgia and Kentucky. The Federal Seed Act is a truth-in-labeling law designed to protect farmers and consumers who buy seed.
 

Website: http://www.ams.usda.gov

Published: November 17, 2011