Black farmers were sold 'fake' seeds by Iowa company, Memphis-based group says

Black farmers, whose numbers already have dwindled precipitously over the past century, face new hardships after suffering poor yields last year because they were sold "fake" soybean seeds marketed at a Memphis trade show, members of a group representing African-American growers said. Leaders of the Memphis-based Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association have filed a class-action lawsuit against Stine Seed Co., the nation's largest independent seed-producer, accusing the Adel, Iowa, firm of targeting African-Americans for sales of defective seeds. The suit alleges that black farmers who attended the 67th Annual Mid-South Farm & Gin Show at the Memphis Cook Convention Center in March of last year bought more than $100,000 worth of Stine seeds. But the "certified" seeds the growers had paid for were switched with inferior ones at a warehouse near Sledge, Mississippi, according to the suit.