Title 69, Agriculture, Horticulture, and Animals

(1) The duty of enforcing this article is vested in the commissioner. The commissioner may establish rules and regulations not inconsistent with this article, may employ such agents and persons, and may make use of other employees of the department as deemed necessary for enforce…

(1) It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, acting either directly or through his duly authorized agents:(a) To sample, inspect, make analyses of and test agricultural, vegetable, flower, tree and shrub seeds, and transgenic seeds, transported, held …

(1) The commissioner shall appoint an arbitration council composed of six (6) members to hear and decide each complaint. The Director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, the Director of the Mississippi Cooperative Extension Service, the President of t…

The commissioner may cause to be seized and held any lot of agricultural seed, mixtures of same, vegetable seed, flower seed, or tree and shrub seed found to be in violation of any of the provisions of this article until the law has been complied with and said violation otherwise…

(1) As a prerequisite to filing a cause of action in court against a seedsman, a consumer who is damaged by the failure of agricultural, vegetable, flower or forest tree seed to properly produce or perform, as represented by the label or labeling whether related to specific repre…

Any person who violates any provision of this article or the rules and regulations made and promulgated thereunder shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall pay a fine of not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or by imprisonment for not …

All fees collected by the Commissioner under this article, except those fees collected under Section 69-3-6, shall be paid to the State Treasurer who shall deposit the fees in the General Fund in the State Treasury.

(1) Whenever it has been alleged that any person or other entity has violated any of the provisions of this article, or any of the rules or regulations promulgated hereunder, the matter shall be conducted as an administrative proceeding under the terms and conditions of Sections …

(1) Every seedsman who sells, offers for sale, exposes for sale, distributes or solicits orders for the sale of any agricultural seed or mixtures thereof, vegetable seed, flower seed, or tree and shrub seed as defined in Section 69-3-1 to farmers, retail seed dealers, wholesale d…

(1) Every person, firm, association or corporation that shall transfer ownership of Bermuda grass for commercial sprigging, or that shall issue, use or circulate any certificate, advertisement, tag, seal, poster, letterhead, marking circular, written or printed representation or …

(1) Each container of agricultural, vegetable, flower, or tree and shrub seeds sold, offered for sale, or exposed for sale, or transported within this state for seeding purposes shall bear thereon or have attached in a conspicuous place a plainly written or printed label or tag i…

(1) The department may establish seed inspection fees, prescribe and furnish forms, and require the filing of reports necessary for the payment of the inspection fees. The department may inspect the record of any seedsman during the normal hours of business operation as it deems …

(1) Each person handling seed shall keep for a period of two (2) years a complete seed record of agricultural, vegetable, flower, or tree and shrub seeds handled. (2) The records shall include the information for seed records as defined in Section 69-3-1. (3) The commissioner or …

(1) It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer for sale or expose for sale any agricultural seed, mixtures of agricultural seed, vegetable seed, flower seed, or tree and shrub seed, as defined in this article, for seeding purposes within this state:(a) Unless a permit has…

The Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, the president of Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science, and the director of the agricultural and forestry experimental station of Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science are hereby ves…

There is hereby created a state seed board composed of the president of Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science, the director of the agricultural and forestry experiment station of Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science, the commis…

Neither the state seed board, Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science, nor any of its divisions so represented shall be financially responsible for debts incurred by, damages inflicted by, or contracts broken by the official state seed certifying agency.

The work of the official state seed certifying agency shall be on a self-supporting basis.

Every person, firm, association or corporation who shall issue, use or circulate any certificate, advertisement, tag, seal, poster, letterhead, marking circular, written or printed representation, or description of or pertaining to seeds, plants or plant parts or other farm produ…

The state seed certifying agency shall not have the power to engage in the sale or processing of seeds, plants or plant parts or other farm products or to designate any agency or individual for these purposes except that the state seed certifying agency may promote the sale of ce…

The duly approved state seed certifying agency is hereby vested with the full authority to establish, create and specify rules and regulations for the designation of seeds, plants and plant parts and other farm products as certified or Mississippi certified to be grown, harvested…

Any person desiring a change in the rules and regulations or to appeal from the action of the state seed certifying agency shall have the right of a hearing either in person or by attorney before a board of appeals composed of the state commissioner of agriculture and commerce, t…

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association or corporation to issue, make, use, or circulate any certification as defined in this article without the authority or approval of the approved state seed certifying agency.

The Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce of Mississippi is hereby vested with the responsibility for enforcing the provisions of this article.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (2) of this section, every person, firm, association or corporation who shall violate any of the provisions of this article pertaining to certification shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in a…