The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has given a thumbs down to a Duluth seed-sharing program that allows members to borrow vegetable seeds from the library in the spring and later return seeds they collect from their gardens.
State agriculture regulators say the exchange — one of about 300 in the United States — violates the state’s seed law because it does not test seeds.
That could jeopardize the popular program, which attracted 200 members who borrowed 800 packets of seeds in its first year, manager Carla Powers said.
In September, the library got a surprise visit from a Minnesota Department of Agriculture seed inspector. He informed the library it was likely violating Minnesota’s seed law, which regulates the selling of seeds.
Full article:
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/11/30/duluth-librarys-seed-sharing-program-hits-a-hurdle
more info on state laws regarding seed libraries
http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/article/seed-libraries-and-state-laws