WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed an administrative complaint under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) against ABL Farms Inc.
According to a USDA press release, the company, operating from Georgia, allegedly failed to make payment to 18 produce sellers in the amount of $2,600,701 from May 2015 through September, 2015.
ABL Farms Inc. will have an opportunity to request a hearing. Should the USDA find that the company committed repeated and flagrant violations, it would be barred from the produce industry for two years. Furthermore, its principal could not be employed by or affiliated with any PACA licensee for one year and then only with the posting of a USDA-approved surety bond.
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), PACA Division, regulates fair trading practices of produce companies operating subject to PACA, which includes buyers, sellers, commission merchants, dealers, and brokers within the fruit and vegetable industry. All oversight of actions related to PACA are conducted by AMS, an agency within the USDA. PACA establishes a code of good business conduct for the produce industry. Under it, all interstate traders in fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables must be licensed by the USDA. The USDA is authorized to suspend or revoke a trader’s license for violating the act.
In the past three years, the USDA resolved approximately 3,500 PACA claims involving more than $58 million. Its experts also assisted more than 8,000 callers with issues valued at approximately $140 million. These are just two examples of how the USDA continues to support the fruit and vegetable industry.
