Title FAC — California Food & Agric. Code

“Board” means the Seed Advisory Board.

“Certification” means to certify as to the variety, purity, quality, type, strain, or other genetic character of agricultural or vegetable seed.

“Labeler” means any person whose name and address appears on the label pertaining to or attached to a lot or container of agricultural or vegetable seed, or both agricultural and vegetable seed, for sale and distribution within the state.

“Labeling” means all labels, and other written, printed, or graphic representations, in any form whatsoever, which accompany and pertain to any seed whether the seed is in bulk or in containers, and it includes invoices. (Enacted by Stats. 1967, Ch. 15.)

“Noncommercial seed sharing activity” means the receiving or giving away of seed by a noncommercial entity without the creation of a contractual obligation or an expectation to receive anything of value in return. This definition does not prohibit a noncommercial entity engaging …

“Noxious weed seed” means the seed or propagule of any species of noxious weed, as defined in Section 5004. As used in this chapter, noxious weed seed are of two classes, prohibited noxious weed seed and restricted noxious weed seed, which are defined in Sections 52257 and 52258,…

“Person” also means any individual, partnership, corporation, trust association, cooperative association, or any other business unit or organization.

“Prohibited noxious weed seed” means the seed or propagule of any species of noxious weed which the director, as provided in Section 52332, finds and declares to be a prohibited noxious weed seed and which either: (1) is not known to occur, or is of limited distribution, in this …

“Conditioner” means any person who cleans, scarifies, or blends to obtain uniform quality, or who conducts other operations which would change the purity, germination, or identity of any lot of seed, including, but not limited to, packaging, labeling, blending together of uniform…

“Process” means any modification of the form or nature of agricultural or vegetable seed, or any treatment of the seed, which renders it inviable.

“Research” means any research related to the variety, purity, quality, type, strain, or other genetic and physiological characteristics of agricultural or vegetable seed or the production thereof.

“Restricted noxious weed seed” means the seed or propagule of any species of noxious weed, the seed of which is not otherwise designated as prohibited noxious weed seed, and which the director, as provided in Section 52332, finds and declares to be a restricted noxious weed seed.

“Vegetable seed” means the seed of any crop which is or may be grown in gardens or on truck farms and which is generally known and sold under the name of vegetable seed. (Enacted by Stats. 1967, Ch. 15.)

“Weed seed” means any noxious weed seed or vegetable seeds, and any seed that is not included in the definitions of agricultural seed, if it occurs incidentally in agricultural seed or vegetable seeds.

“Viability” means a description of living seeds which are capable of germinating.

“Farm” means a place of agricultural production which has annual sales of agricultural products of one thousand dollars ($1,000) or more.

This chapter and the terms which are used in it shall be construed so as to conform insofar as possible with the construction which is placed upon the Federal Seed Act (7 U.S.C., Sec. 1551, et seq.) and regulations which are issued pursuant to that act, and to effectuate its purp…

The secretary and, under the supervision and direction of the secretary, the commissioner of each county and the qualified representative of the commissioner, shall enforce this chapter and carry out its provisions and requirements. The secretary shall have the discretion to dete…

The director may cooperate with the United States Department of Agriculture and other agencies in the enforcement of this chapter. (Enacted by Stats. 1967, Ch. 15.)

The director may issue such orders, circulars, and announcements as he may deem necessary to further the purposes of this chapter. (Enacted by Stats. 1967, Ch. 15.)

If the director or the commissioner finds that any person has violated any provision of this chapter, he may institute proceedings in the court of competent jurisdiction in the area in which the violation occurred, to have such person convicted of the violation, or he may file wi…

The director shall maintain a properly equipped laboratory for examining and testing seeds. (Enacted by Stats. 1967, Ch. 15.)

All prohibited and restricted noxious weed seed which are enumerated in this chapter or in any regulation which is adopted by the director pursuant to this chapter are hereby recognized as noxious within the meaning of the Federal Seed Act (7 U.S.C., Sec. 1551, et seq.).

The Legislature hereby declares all of the following: (a) It is the intent of this chapter to enable the seed industry, with the aid of the state, to ensure that seed purchased by the consumer-buyer is properly identified and of the quality and amount represented on the tag or la…

The department may post information on its Internet Web site about noncommercial seed sharing activity that includes, but is not limited to, the following: (a) Germination or varietal purity standards. (b) Compliance with the federal Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. Sec. 23…

There is in the department a Seed Advisory Board consisting of 11 members appointed by the secretary, seven of whom shall be labelers registered under the provisions of this chapter, two of whom shall be persons who receive or possess seed for sale in this state, and two of whom …

It is hereby declared, as a matter of legislative determination, that labelers appointed to the Seed Advisory Board pursuant to this article are intended to represent and further the interest of a particular agricultural industry concerned, and that such representation and furthe…

The term of office for each member of the board is three years. Vacancies shall be filled by the secretary for an unexpired term.

Members of the board shall receive no salary but may be allowed per diem in accordance with Department of General Services rules for attendance at meetings and other board activities authorized by the board and approved by the director.

The board shall be advisory to the secretary and may make recommendations on all matters pertaining to this chapter including, but not limited to, seed law and regulations, enforcement, seed laboratory diagnostics and annual budgets required to accomplish the purposes of this cha…

The board shall annually elect a chairman from its membership, and from time to time such other officers as it may deem advisable.

The board shall meet at the call of its chairman or the director, or at the request of any four members of the board. The board shall meet at least once a year to review budget proposals and fiscal matters related to such proposals.

For purposes of this article only, the following definitions apply: (a) “Farmer” means the person responsible for planting a crop, managing the crop, and harvesting the crop from land on which a breach of contract or patent infringement is alleged to have occurred. (b) “Genetical…

(a) Before a person or his or her agent holding a patent on a genetically engineered plant, may enter upon any land farmed by another for the purpose of obtaining crop samples to determine whether breach of contract or patent infringement has occurred, the person holding the pate…

If requested by either party, the secretary or his or her designee shall be present for the sampling, provide for the collection of samples, or conduct any other aspect of the sampling or analysis process as requested. The secretary shall designate an employee or enter into an ag…

Samples for analysis may be taken from a standing crop, from representative standing plants in the field, or from crop residue remaining in the field after harvest.

The results of any testing conducted pursuant to this article shall be sent by registered letter by the testing party to all parties involved in the investigation within 30 days after the results are reported from the testing laboratory.

A farmer shall not be liable based on the presence or possession of a patented genetically engineered plant on real property owned or occupied by the farmer when the farmer did not knowingly buy or otherwise knowingly acquire the genetically engineered plant, the farmer acted in …

The provisions of this part are severable. If any provision of this part or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

A person is not subject to the penalties which are prescribed by this chapter in any of the following cases: (a) For selling in this state any agricultural or vegetable seed which is incorrectly labeled or represented as to kind, variety, or type, which seed cannot be identified …

All money that is received by the director pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund and shall be expended only for the purpose of this chapter.

The secretary shall prepare an annual statement of the operating expenditures and income related to this chapter that shall be presented to the board for review as soon as possible following the termination of any fiscal year. A copy of this statement shall be made available to a…

(a) The department’s cost of carrying out this chapter shall be funded from money that is received by the secretary pursuant to this chapter. The secretary shall also pay annually, in arrears, one hundred twenty thousand dollars ($120,000) to counties as an annual subvention for …

(a) The subvention program under Section 52323 is an optional program available to counties. The subvention to counties under Section 52323 shall be annually apportioned as follows: (1) At the discretion of the secretary and upon recommendation of the board, counties with no regi…

(a) Commissioners of counties that choose to participate in the subvention program shall enter into a cooperative agreement with the secretary, whereby the commissioner agrees to maintain a statewide compliance level, determined by the secretary, on all seed within the county. Th…

The director, by regulations, shall do all of the following: (a) Adopt germination standards for vegetable seed. (b) Adopt tolerances to be applied in all enforcement procedure required by this chapter. (c) Prescribe methods of procedure in the examination of lots of any agricult…

The secretary, by regulation, may adopt all of the following: (a) A list of the plants and crops that the secretary finds are or may be grown in this state. (b) A list of the plants and crops that the secretary finds are detrimental to agriculture if they occur incidentally in ot…

The director may, by regulation, adopt standards, including noxious weed seed and other pest standards, for premises from which seed shipments are exempt from the provisions of Section 6501 and shall designate such premises as origin inspected warehouses.

The declaration of a plant, seed, nursery stock, or crop as invasive is a power reserved for the secretary.

Every labeler of agricultural or vegetable seed offered for sale in this state, or any person, as defined in Section 52256.5, who sells that seed in this state, shall annually register with the secretary to obtain authorization to sell agricultural or vegetable seed before engagi…