Wed. Sept. 10th 4-6PM 

As many of you are aware, the Simpson Seed Library in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (PA) received a letter from the PA Department of Agriculture (June 12, 2014)  informing them that they needed to have a seed license to comply with the PA Seed Act and Regulations. Mr. Johnny Zook, the Seed Control Official for the PA DOA, considered them a "seed distributor" and required that they purchase a seed license and label all seed at industry standard. "This includes, but is not limited to, such things as Germination Test date, Sell by date, lot #, Seed Kind, distributor's name and address." For more information on the original letter, the PA Seed Act (note that this is a state law, not federal) and the subsequent draft protocol issued by the PA DOA, visit the Simpson Seed Library webpage.

The suggested protocol requires the library to get new, commercially grown seed each year and to dispose of all seed at the end of each year. No locally grown seed can be stored in the seed library. The Joseph T. Simpson Library made an initial appeal to the PA DOA, but beyond their initial appeal they are choosing to comply with the protocol. Interestingly, failure to comply with the PA Seed Law is a "stop sale," which of course, can't be enforced since the seed library isn't selling seed. Also of interest is that under the protocol they are allowed to host seed swaps, which would have been the exact same seeds as would have been in the seed library. 

On Monday, August 18th Lois Capshaw, Maryland's Chief, Turf & Seed Section, wrote to the State Master Gardener Coordinator that they would like to "accommodate seed libraries and seed swaps while upholding MD's Seed Law, without burdening libraries to obtain permits." Citing the protocol drafted by Johnny Zook, the Pennsylvania Seed Program Supervisor, seed libraries in Maryland would have to purchase brand new, commercial seed each year and dispose of it at the end of each year.  "Returning any seeds to the library would not be allowed; meetings to swap harvested seeds are encouraged instead." 

Many people are concerned by these interpretations of well-intentioned laws, including the folks at Shareable.net and the Sustainable Economies Law Center.  Two SELC  lawyers partnered with Shareable to write this useful article entitled Setting the Record Straight on Seed Libraries.  We strongly encourage you to read this article. There is a Hackpad in the article where people can upload their own state seeds laws. There are other possible directions and approaches suggested as well. If you are interested in helping us to put together additional resources, please email us at seedlibraries@gmail.com.

We've also created talking points to help you answer questions if people want to know about how the law applies to seed libraries. These are working documents and can be strengthened by your input. So add your state seed law to the Hackpad and if you have comments on the talking points add them here.  We will be discussing this matter at the Seed Librarians Summit in September. However, if you do get a letter from the your state department of agriculture or regulating agency, please email SeedLibraries@gmail.com.