Plant Industry

Fertilizer Registration and Penalties

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The purpose of the FERTILIZER PENALTY SYSTEM is to:

1. Make consistent application of laws and regulations with regard to assessment and/or waiver of penalties on sampled lots of fertilizer, lime, and landplaster.
2. The assessment and waiver procedure determines if the fertilizer consumer has suffered significant injury due to deficiency in the sampled product . If the found analyses of the product are equally beneficial to the consumer in comparison with the guaranteed product, any penalty is waived if it meets certain criteria in the North Carolina Fertilizer Law.
3. During the testing of fertilizer and lime samples, the laboratory analyses for the guaranteed sample ingredients are determined. A computer program determines which of the analyses are in penalty range and the amount of the assessment.