Chapter 128

Section 1. The following words as used in this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context otherwise requires: ''Commissioner'', the commissioner of agricultural resources. ''Department'', the department of agricultural resources. ''Director'', in sections 16 to …

Section 10. Each person conducting a demonstration sheep farm shall maintain under the supervision of and in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the commissioner, a flock of not less than twenty sheep and under his direction may from time to time pu…

Section 100. Whoever sells, offers or exposes for sale any lot of agricultural seeds or mixtures thereof, vegetable seeds, flower seeds or tree and shrub seeds without complying with the requirements of sections eighty-four to ninety-nine, inclusive, applicable thereto or in viol…

Section 101. No person shall sell, offer to sell or expose for sale seed potatoes that do not conform to the standards and allowable tolerances set forth in the rules and regulations established by the division of markets in the department. The director of the division of markets…

Section 102. It is hereby declared that the marketing of fresh and processed apples in this commonwealth in excess of reasonable and normal market demands therefor, disorderly marketing of such apples, improper preparation for market and lack of uniform grading and classification…

Section 103. The following words as used in sections one hundred and two through one hundred and fifteen of this chapter shall have the following meanings unless the context otherwise requires: ''Apples'' means all apples produced within the commonwealth for the purpose of sale. …

Section 104. Pursuant to section two of this chapter, and in order to promote and develop the agricultural resources of the commonwealth and encourage the marketing of fresh and processed apples, and to effectuate the declared policy of this chapter, the commissioner may, after d…

Section 105. The commissioner may make and issue marketing orders, after due notice and opportunity for hearing, subject to (1) approval of not less than sixty-five per cent of the producers participating in a referendum vote, and having marketed not less than fifty-one per cent …

Section 106. With respect to any marketing order or marketing agreement implemented under the provisions of sections one hundred and two through one hundred and fifteen of this chapter, the commissioner shall prepare a budget of the administration and operating costs and expenses…

Section 107. As part of any marketing order or agreement implemented under the provisions of section one hundred and two through one hundred and fifteen of this chapter, the commissioner shall establish and provide for the collection of assessments to be collected once with respe…

Section 108. Any marketing agreement or order issued by the commissioner pursuant to said sections one hundred and two through one hundred and fifteen shall be limited to the following: (a) provisions for the establishment of uniform grading, standards, and inspection of any appl…

Section 109. The commissioner may temporarily suspend the operation of an effective marketing order or agreement for a continuing period of not longer than one growing and marketing season, found by the commissioner after due notice and an opportunity for a hearing to be unnecess…

Section 11. The owner of every such farm shall receive a reasonable compensation from the commonwealth for the use of the farm as such demonstration sheep farm, for the labor and expense involved in carrying out this and the two preceding sections, and for any loss involved in th…

Section 110. In carrying out the purposes of said sections one hundred and two through one hundred and fifteen, the commissioner may take into consideration any and all facts available to him with respect to the following economic factors: (a) the quantity of such fresh and proce…

Section 111. The execution of one or more marketing agreements pursuant to section one hundred and four of this chapter shall in no manner affect the issuance, administration or enforcement of any marketing order provided for in said sections one hundred and two through one hundr…

Section 112. Prior to the issuance, amendment or termination of any marketing order pursuant to section one hundred and five of this chapter, the commissioner may require the applicants for such issuance, amendment or termination to deposit with him such amount as he may deem nec…

Section 113. Any assessments collected by the commissioner pursuant to section one hundred and seven of this chapter shall not be deemed state funds, but shall be deemed to be held pursuant to section four of this chapter by the commissioner, as trustee, in trust for and on behal…

Section 114. Any marketing order issued pursuant to said sections one hundred and two through one hundred and fifteen shall provide for the establishment of an advisory board, to consist of not less than five members nor more than nine members, to advise the commissioner in the a…

Section 115. The commissioner may make and promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to effectuate the provisions and intent of said sections one hundred and two through one hundred and fifteen and to enforce the provision of any marketing agreement or order, all …

Section 116. As used in this section and sections 117 to section 123, inclusive, the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:— ''Hemp'', the plant of the genus cannabis and any part of the plant, whether growing or not, wi…

Section 117. (a) Industrial hemp may be planted, grown, harvested, possessed, processed, bought, sold or researched subject to sections 116 to 123, inclusive. The planting, growing, harvesting, possessing, processing, selling or research of industrial hemp as an agricultural prod…

Section 118. (a) No person, other than a person utilizing hemp for commercial purposes pursuant to subsection (c) or a person utilizing industrial hemp for research pursuant to subsection (d), shall plant, grow, harvest, possess, process or sell industrial hemp without a license …

Section 119. (a) After receipt, review and approval of an application for licensure pursuant to section 118, the commissioner may grant an annual license upon issuance of written findings that the requirements of sections 116 to 123, inclusive, have been satisfied and upon the is…

Section 12. The division of regulatory services shall investigate all dairy products bought or sold, enforce the laws for the manufacture, transfer and sale of such products, and take such action as will tend to produce better quality thereof and to improve the dairy industry. It…

Section 120. The commissioner shall suspend, revoke or refuse to renew the license of a person who violates sections 116 to 123, inclusive, following appropriate process in accordance with chapter 30A.

Section 121. (a) The department and the commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations for the implementation, administration and enforcement of sections 116 to 123, inclusive. (b) Pursuant to section 2 of chapter 30A, the department may promulgate, amend or repeal any regul…

Section 122. The department may inspect and have access to the equipment, supplies, records, real property and other information deemed necessary to carry out the department's duties under sections 116 to 123, inclusive, from a person participating in the planting, growing, harve…

Section 123. The department may establish civil administrative fines for violations of sections 116 to 123, inclusive. A person aggrieved by the assessment of a fine under this section or a licensure action under section 120 may appeal by filing a notice of appeal with the depart…

Section 124. (a) As used in this section, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context otherwise requires:- ''Farm'', lands that are used by a person for farming or agriculture as defined in section 1A. ''Federal act'', the FDA Food Safety Modernizatio…

Section 13. The bureau of dairying in the division of regulatory services shall report to the director of animal health each case brought to its attention where any barn, stable or other enclosure, where neat cattle, other ruminants or swine are kept, is found in an unsanitary co…

Section 13A. The Milk Producers Security Fund, established by section 48 of chapter 10, shall be for the purpose of reimbursing Massachusetts producers who sold milk to a dealer when the dealer has defaulted in the timely payment for the milk under chapter 94A, or orders, rules o…

Section 13B. (a) The dealer of milk in the commonwealth who first received milk from Massachusetts producers, shall pay on or before the due date of payment to the producers, the amount of 5 cents per 100 weight on the volume of all the milk purchased from the producers and the p…

Section 14. The department and its employees shall have access to each place or vehicle used in the manufacture, storage, transportation or sale of dairy products or imitations thereof, and to each vessel and can used in such manufacture, storage, transportation and sale, and sha…

Section 15. Employees of the department shall visit towns to inquire into the methods and needs of practical husbandry, ascertain the adaptation of agricultural products to soil, climate and markets, encourage the establishment of farmers' clubs, agricultural libraries and readin…

Section 16. The director of regulatory services and his assistants may at all times enter any public or private grounds in the performance of duties required by section seventeen to thirty-one, inclusive, for the purpose of abating any serious plant diseases. Said director may, s…

Section 17. The said director, either personally or through his assistants, shall inspect at least once each year each nursery or place where nursery stock is grown, and if no dangerous insects or fungous pests are found therein, he shall give a certificate to that effect. If suc…

Section 18. Each agent or other person, except a grower, who sells nursery stock shall make application to the director for an agent's license, and shall file with him the names and addresses of all persons or nurseries from which he purchases his stock. On receipt of such applic…

Section 19. No person shall sell, exchange, give, deliver or ship within the commonwealth any tree, shrub or plant commonly known as nursery stock unless such person holds a grower's certificate under section seventeen or an agent's license under the preceding section, and unless…

Section 1A. ''Farming'' or ''agriculture'' shall include farming in all of its branches and the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing and harvesting of any agricultural, aquacultural, floricultural or horticultural commodities, the gr…

Section 2. The department through its proper divisions shall have power to-- (a) Execute and carry into effect the laws relative to dairy products, animal breeding, apple grading, plant pest control except the gypsy and brown tail moths and the tent caterpillars, apiary inspectio…

Section 20. No nursery stock shall be brought into the commonwealth unless it bears an unexpired certificate of inspection. Each person bringing into the commonwealth, or receiving for transportation to a point within the commonwealth from outside thereof, any car, box, bundle, p…

Section 20A. No person shall knowingly plant, transport, transplant or traffic in plants of water chestnut (Trapa natans) or in seeds or nuts thereof nor in any manner cause the spread or growth of such plants.

Section 21. The director, either personally or through his assistants, may inspect at its point of destination all nursery stock coming into the commonwealth, and if such stock is found to be infested with injurious insects or plant disease he may cause it to be destroyed, treate…

Section 23. The owner of any cultivated berry-bearing shrubbery destroyed by the director or his assistants under sections twenty-one and twenty-two shall receive compensation therefor from the commonwealth, provided that he has given written notice thereof to the director within…

Section 24. The director, either personally or through his assistants, may inspect any orchard, field garden, roadside or other place where trees, shrubs or other plants exist, whether on public or private property, which he may know or have reason to suspect is overgrown with no…

Section 25. In case of objection to the proposed action of the director or his assistants in executing any provision of sections sixteen to thirty-one, inclusive, an appeal in writing may be taken within ten days to the commissioner, and the appeal shall operate as a stay of proc…

Section 26. When the commissioner has heard an appeal and has rendered a decision that the action of the director from which the appeal was taken is sustained, the director shall notify in writing the owner, occupant or person in charge of the trees, shrubs or other plants concer…

Section 27. The director, with the approval of the commissioner, after a duly advertised public hearing with notice to interested parties, may prohibit, for such periods and under such conditions as he may impose, the delivery within the commonwealth of nursery stock, fruits, pla…

Section 28. Sections sixteen to twenty-seven, inclusive, twenty-nine and thirty, shall not apply to gypsy or brown tail moths in any stage of development except upon places where nursery stock is grown and upon property adjoining the same.

Section 29. Whoever violates any provision of sections sixteen to twenty-seven, inclusive, or offers any hindrance to the carrying out of any part thereof, or after receipt of written request from the director or any of his assistants unreasonably refuses or neglects to comply wi…