FSA Settled Cases

FEDERAL SEED ACT CASES SETTLED

The Federal Seed Act (FSA) regulates the interstate shipment of agricultural and vegetable seeds. The FSA requires that seed shipped in interstate commerce be labeled with certain information necessary for the seed buyer to make an informed choice. The labeling information and any advertisements pertaining to the seed must be truthful. The FSA helps promote uniformity among State seed laws and fair competition within the seed trade.

In the spring of 2024, the USDA AMS paused its FSA civil penalty assessments due to the Supreme Court case decision in Jarkesy v. SEC, to ensure compliance with Federal administrative law. In that ruling, the court held that the Seventh Amendment applies to certain enforcement actions seeking civil penalties. As a result, no FSA cases were settled in the period between April 2024 through September 2024. After a comprehensive compliance review of its processes, AMS resumed FSA enforcement procedures. The pause, however, led to a backlog of more than 200 cases that AMS had accumulated. While some of these cases were reflected in the 2025 Federal Seed Act Cases Settled release, the majority is presented in this announcement. This is the reason that for 2026 the total settled cases and penalty amounts appear higher than usual - these increases are not an indication of decreased compliance in the seed industry.

As of September 2026, AMS has successfully completed that backlog. AMS would like to thank State seed control officials and all of the interstate shippers involved in these actions for diligently working with our staff to settle these issues.

The following cases were settled administratively under the FSA between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026. Under the administrative settlement procedure, the Seed Regulatory and Testing Division and the firms agreed to settle the cases. The firms have neither admitted nor denied the charges.

Allied Seed, LLC, Nampa, Idaho, paid $7,900 for a case involving four seed shipments. There were one seed shipment from Alabama to Kentucky, one seed shipment from Idaho to Virginia, and two seed shipments from Oregon to Kentucky. Seed regulatory officials in Kentucky and Virginia cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences, and
  • False labeling of pure seed and other crop seed percentages.

Andrews Farm and Seed, Carthage, Missouri, paid $1,100 for a case involving one seed shipment to Texas. Seed regulatory officials in Texas cooperated in the initial sampling and inspection. The alleged violation was:

  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrence.

Barenbrug USA, Tangent, Oregon, paid $40,281 for a case involving thirteen seed shipments.

The seed shipments were shipped to Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. Subsequent shipments from the listed States were forwarded throughout U.S. Seed regulatory officials in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Missouri cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to label as a mixture;
  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • False labeling of germination percentage and test date;
  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences, and
  • False labeling of pure seed, inert matter, coating, and other crop seed percentages.

Beachner Seed Company, LLC, St. Paul, Kansas, paid $13,310 for a case involving four seed shipments. There were one seed shipment from Kansas to Indiana, one seed shipment from Maryland to Virginia, one seed shipment from Ohio to Virginia, and one seed shipment from Texas to Virginia. Seed regulatory officials in Indiana and Virginia cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to label as a mixture;
  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • False labeling as to variety name;
  • False labeling of germination percentage;
  • False labeling of pure seed and other crop seed percentages, and
  • Failure to label the interstate shippers name and address or code designation.

BWI Companies, Nash Texas, paid $7,000 for a case involving three seed shipments. The seed shipments were to Louisiana, Texas, South Carolina, and Virginia. Seed regulatory officials in Louisiana, Texas, and Virginia cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to adhere to labeling specifications;
  • False labeling of germination percentage and test date;
  • False labeling of pure seed and inert matter percentages, and
  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences.

Cisco Company, The, Indianapolis, Indiana, paid $2,350 for a case involving two seed shipments to Michigan. Seed regulatory officials in Michigan cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • • False labeling of germination percentage and test date, and
  • • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrence.

J & J Bagging, LLC, Yazoo City, Mississippi, paid $12,250 for a case involving eleven seed shipments to Louisiana. Seed regulatory officials in Louisiana cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • False labeling of germination percentages, and
  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences.

Kelly Seed Company, Inc., Hartford, Alabama, paid $26,507 for a case involving seven seed shipments. The seed shipments were shipped to Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia. Seed regulatory officials in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Virginia cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • Failure to adhere to labeling specifications;
  • False labeling of germination percentages and test date;
  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences, and
  • False labeling of pure seed, inert matter, weed seed and other crop seed percentages.

Lake Valley Seed, Boulder, Colorado, paid $1,100 for a case involving one seed shipment to Indiana. Seed regulatory officials in Indiana cooperated in the initial sampling and inspection. The alleged violation was:

  • False labeling of germination percentage.

New Seed, Inc., Lake Oswego, Oregon, paid $1,650 for a case involving one seed shipment to Indiana. Seed regulatory officials in Indiana cooperated in the initial sampling and inspection. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to adhere to labeling specifications, and
  • False labeling of pure seed and other crop seed percentages.

Olean Seed Company, Olean, Missouri, paid $6,700 for two cases involving a total of three seed shipments. The seed shipments were shipped to Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Seed regulatory officials in Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • False labeling of germination percentage;
  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences;
  • False labeling of pure seed and other crop seed percentages, and
  • Failure to label the interstate shippers name and address or code designation.

Pennington Seed, Inc., Madison, Georgia, paid $232,846 for three cases involving a total of eighty-seven seed shipments. The seed shipments were shipped to Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia. Subsequent shipments from the listed States were forwarded throughout U.S. Seed regulatory officials in California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Virginia cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to label as a mixture;
  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • False labeling as to variety names;
  • False labeling as to incorrect labeling;
  • Failure to adhere to labeling specifications;
  • False labeling of germination percentages and test dates;
  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences, and
  • False labeling of pure seed, inert matter, other crop seed, and weed seed percentages.

Plantation Products, LLC, (DBA: Green Garden Products, LLC) Norton, Massachusetts, paid $91,012 for two cases involving a total of forty-two seed shipments. The seed shipments were shipped to Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Utah. Seed regulatory officials in Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Utah cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • Failure to adhere to labeling specifications, and
  • False labeling of germination percentages and test dates.

Proseeds Marketing, Inc., Jefferson, Oregon, paid $9,300 for a case involving five seed shipments. The seed shipments were shipped to Illinois, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Seed regulatory officials in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • False labeling of test date, and
  • False labeling of pure seed, inert matter, and other crop seed percentages.

RiceTec, Inc., Alvin, Texas, paid $9,400 for a case involving five seed shipments to Mississippi. Seed regulatory officials in Mississippi cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violation was:

  • False labeling of germination percentages.

RoseAgri-Seed, Inc., (DBA: Pure Seed Testing), paid $19,550 for a case involving fifteen seed shipments. The seed shipments were shipped to Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Seed regulatory officials in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Virginia cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • False labeling of pure seed and inert matter percentages, and
  • False labeling of germination percentages and test dates.

Rural King Supply, Mattoon, Illinois, paid $1,650 for a case involving one seed shipment to Virginia. Seed regulatory officials in Virginia cooperated in the initial sampling and inspection. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to keep or supply records, and
  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences.

Seeds West, Inc., Roll, Arizona, paid $10,000 for a case involving five seed shipments. There were two seed shipments to Texas and three seed shipments to Georgia. Seed regulatory officials in Georgia and Texas cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to label as a mixture;
  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • False labeling of pure seed percentage, and
  • False labeling of germination percentages.

Syngenta Seeds, Slater, Iowa, paid $1,400 for a case involving one seed shipment to Missouri. Seed regulatory officials in Missouri cooperated in the initial sampling and inspection. The alleged violation was:

  • False labeling of germination percentage.

Thunderbird Commodities, Inc., Mahnomen, Minnesota, paid $2,550 for a case involving one seed shipment to Kentucky which was subsequently reshipped to Indiana. Seed regulatory officials in Indiana cooperated in the initial sampling and inspection. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to keep or supply records, and
  • False labeling of germination percentage.

TNT Seed, LLC, Hennessey, Oklahoma, paid $40,930 for two cases involving seventeen seed shipments. The seed shipments were shipped to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas, South Carolina, and Virginia. Seed regulatory officials in Florida, Texas, and Virginia cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to label as a mixture;
  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences, and
  • False labeling of pure seed, inert matter, and other crop seed percentages.

Tractor Supply Company, Brentwood, Tennessee, paid $2,500 for a case involving two seed shipments. There was one seed shipment each to Florida and South Carolina. Seed regulatory officials in Florida and South Carolina cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violation was:

  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences.

Tri-Star Seed Company, Inc., Spring Hill, Kansas, paid $1,650 for a case involving one seed shipment to Indiana. Seed regulatory officials in Indiana cooperated in the initial sampling and inspection. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to keep or supply records, and
  • False labeling of pure seed and inert matter percentages.

Tucker Seed Company, Inc., paid $5,100 for a case involving four seed shipments to Florida.

Seed regulatory officials in Florida cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violation was:

  • False labeling of germination percentages.

Turner Seed, Inc., Antioch, Tennessee, paid $13,390 for a case involving four seed shipments.

There was one seed shipment to Georgia and three seed shipments to Kentucky. Seed regulatory officials in Georgia and Kentucky cooperated in the initial sampling and inspections. The alleged violations were:

  • Failure to keep or supply records;
  • Failure to adhere to labeling specifications;
  • False labeling as to variety name;
  • False labeling of germination percentage;
  • False labeling of noxious-weed seeds rate of occurrences, and
  • Failure to label the interstate shippers name and address or code designation.