New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has announced an agreement with Seedway LLC, a seed production company that repeatedly mislabeled bags of seed in regards to type, purity, and germination rates and failed to comply with New York State’s seed certification requirements, which led to an artificial inflation of the price of the product. Under the settlement, Seedway, LLC will pay $246,000 in refunds to consumers who purchased mislabeled bags of seed, and $100,000 to the state in penalties and costs. This is the largest fine ever for a violation of Agricultural and Markets law in regard to seed sales.
Seedway is a wholly-owned unit of Growmark Inc., Bloomington, Ill.
“This matter involved a small quantity of small grain seed originating from the Mecklenburg facility,” said Seedway Chief Operating Officer Don Wertman in a letter to customers. “These issues are not illustrative of the bulk of Seedway’s operations and represented less than one percent of our business during the applicable period. No charges were ever filed against Seedway, and we self-reported the facts that lead to this inquiry to Ag & Markets soon after they became known to management in the summer of 2007.”
Seedway said it has already paid the penalties and costs to the Attorney General and will continue in good faith to try and identify end-consumers to make full restitution. Seedway has also agreed to implement an audited quality assurance program that will set a new standard in the seed industry, and provide needed safeguards to ensure the accuracy of future seed labeling.
According to Cuomo’s office, Seedway, located in Hall in Ontario County, produces commercial seed for use by farmers in New York and throughout the country. The state’s investigation revealed that between 2004 and 2007, Seedway sold approximately 22,000 fifty-pound bags of falsely labeled and improperly certified seeds to over 200 customers. The company wrongfully certified inferior seeds and labeled seed bags with incorrect classes and germination percentages. Employees at Seedway’s facility in Mecklenburg also fraudulently affixed seed bags with New York state inspection certificates when they were not actually inspected and certified. As a result of these inaccurate labels, consumers bought the seeds at higher prices than if they had been labeled correctly.