The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that a Halsey, Oregon seed company has paid USDA $2,025 to settle an alleged violation of the Federal Seed Act. 

The company, Smith Seed Services, settled the case in agreement with officials from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.  The company neither admitted nor denied the charges.

The case resolved by the settlement involved three shipments of annual ryegrass seed alleged to be in violation of the Federal Seed Act; there was one shipment to Georgia, one shipment to Tennessee that was reshipped to Arkansas; and one shipment to Virginia. 

The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments, were:

•  false labeling of noxious-weed seeds;

•  false labeling in regard to inert matter and weed seed; and

•  failure to test for germination prior to interstate shipment.

AMS administers the act with the help of state seed officials.  Seed regulatory officials in Arkansas, Georgia, and Virginia cooperated with AMS in making the investigations.  The Federal Seed Act is a truth-in-labeling law designed to protect farmers and consumers who buy seed.