Dept of Agri Shuts Down Cell of Potential “Agri-Terrorists”: Seed Libraries Outlawed in Pennsylvania
by: Daisy Luther
TheOrganicPrepper.ca
August 3, 2014
It looks like Michigan is not the only state with a Department of Agriculture that is adamant about the best interests of their citizens. Residents in Pennsylvania can now breathe a little bit easier since an illegal enterprise has been shut down.
The Joseph T. Simpson Public Library in Mechanicsburg was participating in an activity that put the entire ecosystem of the state at risk.
In an astonishing act of hubris, they were running a seed library, right there amongst the books, in the very facility where small children go to have stories read to them.
I’m not making this up. A SEED LIBRARY.
If you aren’t sure what this is, it allows patrons to go in and get heirloom seeds, for free. The borrower plants the seeds, then at harvest time, saves seeds and returns them to the library.
The horror.
Apparently this violates the “Seed Act of 2004.” That’s right, there’s a Seed Act that makes this illegal.
Luckily for the Cumberland County Library System, the state D of A decided that SWAT was not necessary and instead sent a high-ranking official and a team of lawyers to shut down the seed library.
Jonelle Darr, the Executive Director of the CCLS, said that 60 residents had signed up to participate in the seed library. She said that continuing the project isn’t possible, due to the rigorous requirements of the D of A.
Darr explained that the Seed Act primarily focuses on the selling of seeds — which the library was not doing — but there is also a concern about seeds that may be mislabeled (purposefully or accidentally), the growth of invasive plant species, cross-pollination and poisonous plants.
The department told the library it could not have the seed library unless its staff tested each seed packet for germination and other information. Darr said that was clearly not something staff could handle. (source)
The Rest…HERE
