Nadine Wilkins (202) 720-8998Nadine.Wilkins@ams.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2010 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced that Southern States Cooperative Inc., a seed company operating out of Richmond, Va., has paid $2,800 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 a case, which involved two shipments of oat seeds and four shipments of wheat seeds shipped from the company’s location in Farmville, N.C., to Georgia, where it was officially sampled.
The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments, were:
-false labeling of germination and other crop seed percentages;-failure to test for germination within the prescribed time prior to shipment; and-advertizing seed with a brand name, of which could be construed as a variety name.
AMS administers the act with the help of state seed officials. Seed regulatory officials in Georgia 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.
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