The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that a Tangent, Oregon, seed company has paid USDA $1,000 to settle an alleged violation of the Federal Seed Act.

The company, Turf Merchants Inc., 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 four shipments of tall fescue, rough bluegrass, and Kentucky bluegrass to Illinois and Virginia alleged to be in violation of the Federal Seed Act.

The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments, were false labeling as to purity and failure to show the presence of noxious-weed seeds (undesirable grass seeds) and the rate of occurrence.

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