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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] permit to sell seeds

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  • From: Betty Mayfield <bmayfield@columbia-center.org>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] permit to sell seeds
  • Date: Fri, 08 Jul 2005 18:22:30 -0700

In order to effectively fight things like this, we would have to know the story behind it. Was the Minn. legislature frantically scrabbling for money to balance the budget, or are there big seed companies in Minn. who are lobbying to keep out competition? Or did the Dept. of Agriculture issue this order on its own, without any legislative direction? And what do the feds think of this? Does it interfere with interstate commerce?

Carried to extremes, this would wipe out mail order business. What about books by mail, clothing by mail, garden equipment by mail, etc.? And what about E-Bay? It sounds as if Minn. gardeners ought to scream loudly at their state government.

Betty Mayfield
Oregon



At 01:39 PM 7/8/05 -0700, Mark Lee wrote:
This was sent to me by the owner of a small seed company in Illinois.
[...We recently received a notice from the Minnesota Department of
Agriculture regarding the "sale of seeds intended for planting in
Minnesota". The gist of it is that firms who market seeds by mail need
to purchase a permit from the state of Minnesota to do so. The annual
permit ranges from $50 to $2000, depending on the annual gross sales of
the company....Should this catch on, individual states initiating
similar taxes will strain small seed companies, perhaps putting them out
of business, leaving none but the giant, "agribusiness" seed companies
to sell seeds by mail.]
That is a scary thought. I don't think it was intended to put little
seed companies out of business, but it could have that effect. $50
minimum * 50 states = $2500. A steep barrier for entry. Any comments.
-Mark Lee, Seattle

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