AB 264: Farm products: processors: produce dealers: seeds.

(1)Existing law, the California Seed Law, requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, by regulation, to adopt, among other things, specified lists of plants and crops that the secretary finds are or may be grown in the state or that the secretary finds are detrimental to agriculture if they occur incidentally in other crops, as prescribed, a list of noxious weed seed that the secretary finds are prohibitive noxious weed seed, and methods and procedures, upon recommendation of the Seed Advisory Board, for the conciliation, mediation, or arbitration of disputes between labelers and any persons concerning conformance with label statements, advertisements, or other disputes regarding the quality or performance of seed.

This bill would expand this regulation authority to also make those methods and procedures for the conciliation, mediation, or arbitration of those disputes applicable to disputes concerning conformance with financial terms or the lack of payment by a dealer to a grower, as provided. By expanding the scope of that regulation authority, a violation of which is a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(2)Existing law specifies that every producer of any farm product that sells any farm product that is grown by him or her to any processor under contract, express or implied, in addition to all other rights and remedies that are provided by law, has a lien upon that product and upon all processed or manufactured forms of that farm product for his or her labor, care, and expense in growing and harvesting that product.

This bill would also specify that every producer of a flower, agricultural, or vegetable seed that sells seed that is grown by him or her, when the seed was purchased or supplied by the grower and not supplied by the dealer or an independent 3rd party who paid for the seed, to any seed dealer under contract, express or implied, in addition to all rights and remedies that are provided for by law, has a lien upon that product and upon all processed or manufactured forms of that product for his or her labor, care, and expense in growing and harvesting that product.

(3)Existing law requires that any person engaged in the business of buying, receiving on consignment, soliciting for sale on commission, or negotiating the sale of farm products from a licensee or producer for resale, to be licensed. Existing law, for purposes of those provisions, defines farm product to include every agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, and vegetable product of the soil, poultry and poultry products, livestock products and livestock not for immediate slaughter, bees and apiary products, hay, dried beans, honey, and cut flowers, but excludes from that definition any timber or timber product, flower or agricultural or vegetable seed not purchased from a producer, any milk product that is subject to specified licensing requirements, any aquacultural product, or cattle sold to any person who is bonded under a specified federal law.

This bill would revise that definition to exclude flower, agricultural, or vegetable seeds from the definition of farm products, rather than only those that have not been purchased from a producer.

(4)The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.