2023 Minnesota Statutes › Chapters 17 - 43 — Agriculture › Chapter 21 — Seeds › Section 21.86 — Unlawful Acts.

21.86 UNLAWFUL ACTS.
Subdivision 1.
Prohibitions.
A person may not advertise or sell any agricultural, vegetable, flower, wildflower, tree, or shrub seed if:
(a) a test to determine the percentage of germination required by sections 21.82 and 21.83 has not been completed within a 12-month period, exclusive of the calendar month in which the test was completed or it is offered for sale beyond the sell by date exclusive of the calendar month in which the seed was to have been sold, except that:
(1) when advertised or offered for sale as agricultural seed, native grass and forb (wildflowers) seeds must have been tested for percentage of germination as required by section 21.82 within a 15-month period, exclusive of the calendar month in which the test was completed;
(2) it is unlawful to offer cool season lawn and turf grasses including Kentucky bluegrass, red fescue, chewings fescue, hard fescue, tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, intermediate ryegrass, annual ryegrass, colonial bent grass, creeping bent grass, and mixtures or blends of those grasses, for sale beyond the sell by date exclusive of the calendar month in which the seed was to have been sold;
(3) this prohibition does not apply to tree, shrub, agricultural, flower, wildflower, or vegetable seeds packaged in hermetically sealed containers. Seeds packaged in hermetically sealed containers under the conditions defined by rule may be offered for sale for a period of 36 months after the last day of the month that the seeds were tested for germination prior to packaging; and
(4) if seeds in hermetically sealed containers are offered for sale more than 36 months after the last day of the month in which they were tested prior to packaging, they must be retested within a nine-month period, exclusive of the calendar month in which the retest was completed;
(b) it is not labeled in accordance with sections 21.82 and 21.83 or has false or misleading labeling;
(c) false or misleading advertisement has been used in respect to its sale;
(d) it contains prohibited noxious weed seeds;
(e) it consists of or contains restricted noxious weed seeds in excess of 25 seeds per pound or in excess of the number declared on the label attached to the container of the seed or associated with the seed;
(f) it contains more than one percent by weight of all weed seeds;
(g) it contains less than the stated net weight of contents;
(h) it contains less than the stated number of seeds in the container;
(i) it contains any labeling, advertising, or other representation subject to sections 21.82 and 21.83 representing the seed to be certified unless:
(1) it has been determined by a seed certifying agency that the seed conformed to standards of purity and identity as to kind, species, subspecies, or variety, and also that tree seed was found to be of the origin and elevation claimed, in compliance with the rules pertaining to the seed; and
(2) the seed bears an official label issued for it by a seed certifying agency stating that the seed is of a certified class and a specified kind, species, subspecies, or variety;
(j) it is labeled with a variety name but not certified by an official seed certifying agency when it is a variety for which a United States certificate of plant variety protection has been granted under United States Code, title 7, sections 2481 to 2486, specifying sale by variety name only as a class of certified seed. Seed from a certified lot may be labeled as to variety name when used in a blend or mixture by or with approval of the owner of the variety; or
(k) the person whose name appears on the label does not have complete records including a file sample of each lot of agricultural, vegetable, flower, tree or shrub seed sold in this state as required in section 21.84.
Subd. 2.
Miscellaneous violations.
No person may:
(a) detach, alter, deface, or destroy any label required in sections 21.82 and 21.83, alter or substitute seed in a manner that may defeat the purposes of sections 21.82 and 21.83, or alter or falsify any seed tests, laboratory reports, records, or other documents to create a misleading impression as to kind, variety, history, quality, or origin of the seed;
(b) hinder or obstruct in any way any authorized person in the performance of duties under sections 21.80 to 21.92;
(c) fail to comply with a "stop sale" order or to move or otherwise handle or dispose of any lot of seed held under a stop sale order or attached tags, except with express permission of the enforcing officer for the purpose specified;
(d) use the word "type" in any labeling in connection with the name of any agricultural seed variety;
(e) use the word "trace" as a substitute for any statement which is required;
(f) plant any agricultural seed which the person knows contains weed seeds or noxious weed seeds in excess of the limits for that seed;
(g) advertise or sell seed containing patented, protected, or proprietary varieties used without permission of the patent or certificate holder of the intellectual property associated with the variety of seed; or
(h) use or sell as food, feed, oil, or ethanol feedstock any seed treated with neonicotinoid pesticide.
History:
1983 c 293 s 45; 2000 c 477 s 23; 2003 c 128 art 8 s 14; 2020 c 89 art 2 s 15; 2023 c 60 art 9 s 5