Does the phrase ?Same seed different bag? sound familiar? It?s something that?s frustrated farmers for years. Companies selling seed under different brand names has been a common practice in the seed industry.
Labeling laws require seed companies to provide the variety identity on the seed bag tag itself. But it is different from the marketed brand name. However, it sometimes can be difficult for farmers to match which seeds are the same as others. This is a problem Charles Baron with Farmers Business Network calls Seed Relabeling.
?We started a project trying to decode that. Farmers have now sent us pictures of well over 1,000 tags which have the variety names as well as the trade names. We then cross match all of those variety names and tell each of those members if they are paying in fact planting a duplicate or the same seed twice,? Baron says.
Relabeling is something that?s irritated farmers for a very long time and turns out for a very good reason.
?We found an instance where one brand was relabeling with another in the same state, in the state of Indiana for example, but charging $60 a bag less. That was quite shocking because those farmers were effectively overpaying by almost $30 an acre once you work the math out which is a lot of money to be overpaying for the same genetics from a different branding,? Baron says.
Baron adds they found one type of seed was being sold by six different brands. In some cases, farmers planted two different brands but the bags were the same type of seed. Anyone who wants to participate may send pictures of tags to data@farmersbusinessnetwork.com.
FBN started this project around two weeks ago.
