Wheat
Can I sell "mixed wheat" for dove or pasture wheat?
The vast majority of private and public wheat seed varieties commercially available are protected from unauthorized replanting by the 1994 amended Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA). Dealers, seed cleaners and consumers should be aware that wheat labeled in the state of Mississippi as "Mixed Wheat," "Mixed Wheat Variety Not Stated," or "Mixed Wheat VNS," is fully subject to PVPA regulations, if it contains seed produced from a PVPA '94 protected variety. This labeled wheat is also commonly called dove wheat, pasture wheat, wildlife food plot wheat, brown bag wheat, etc…
Recently, seed companies who own protected varieties are pursuing and prosecuting violators of this act, including the grain dealers/producers, retail operations and consumers who purchase and/or sell PVPA seed for planting purposes. These planting purposes are unspecific and include uses in addition to traditional wheat grain production, such as wildlife food plots, erosion control, livestock forage grazing, etc….
Seed produced from a PVPA variety with 1994 amendments cannot be sold, advertised, offered, delivered, consigned, exchanged, or exposed for sale without explicit authorization by the proprietary seed owner. In addition, a person is prohibited from soliciting an offer to buy the variety or transfer or possess it in any way. It is also illegal to condition the variety to resale for planting purposes. Dealers (retailers), seed cleaners (conditioners) and buyers (consumers) are all liable for these potential violations.
For instance, a dealer cannot legally purchase wheat grain from a grain elevator and sell that wheat seed for planting purposes, if that grain contains a PVPA protected variety for which they do not have explicit consent from the proprietary seed owner to use for planting purposes. Both the dealer and grain elevator are liable in this situation. Also, a consumer cannot legally knowingly purchase wheat labeled VNS, or Mixed wheat, or pasture wheat, etc… containing a PVPA variety to use for planting purposes.
Additionally, a PVPA Title V variety must only be purchased as a class of certified seed from an authorized seed dealer. Each unit of seed must be labeled with certification label stating the class of certification from an official seed certification agency.
A wheat variety containing a patented gene, such as CLEARFIELD, cannot be replanted by anyone for any purpose.
Growers are granted an exemption by the 1994 amended PVPA for which they can collect and save seed produced from any legally purchased PVPA protected variety they wish for their OWN future planting. However, they cannot sell, trade or transfer PVPA protected seed to OTHERS for planting purposes.
