Washington, DC, USA
October 26, 2010

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced that Allied Seed LLC, a seed company operating out of Nampa, Idaho, has paid $2,925 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 one shipment of orchardgrass and one shipment of tall fescue to Missouri, and one shipment of a tall fescue mixture to Georgia. The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments, were as follows:

-false labeling as to pure seed, and other crop seed;
-false labeling as to the presence of noxious-weed seed;
-false labeling as to germination test date; and
-failure to test for germination, prior to interstate shipment.

AMS administers the Federal Seed Act with the assistance of state seed officials. The investigation was completed through the joint efforts of AMS and seed regulatory officials in Georgia and Missouri. 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: October 26, 2010