The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that a Nampa, ID., seed company has paid USDA $3,325 to settle alleged violations of the Federal Seed Act.

The company, Allied Seed LLC, 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 consisting of perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, and orchardgrass seed alleged to be in violation of the Federal Seed Act; there was one shipment each to Georgia and Kentucky, and two shipments to Virginia.

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

• false labeling as to pure seed, other crop seed, and inert matter;
• false labeling as to germination rate;
• false labeling as to the presence of noxious-weed seed;
• false labeling as to kind name;
• false labeling as to date of test;
• failure to label as a mixture of seed, and
• failure to keep and or supply a complete record of the seed.

AMS administers the act with the help of state seed officials. Seed regulatory officials in Georgia, Kentucky, 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.