Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act
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The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, commonly referred to as PACA encourages fair trading practices in the marketing of fresh and frozen agricultural commodities in interstate and foreign commerce. It prohibits unfair and fraudulent practices and provides a means of enforcing contracts and protecting agricultural producers. Located in the heart of Idaho's potato country, Beard St. Clair is intimately familiar with produce suppliers' need to protect themselves.
While PACA is a multi-facated regulatory law, one of its more prominent and potent aspects is its prohibition on unfair trade practices. Examples of unfair trade practices under PACA include failing to make full payment promptly for produce purchases, misbranding or mislabeling of produce, making false and misleading statements in connection with produce transactions, and employing individuals responsibly connected with PACA violations. The attorneys at Beard St. Clair have been successfully involved in high profile cases involving misbranding and brand disparagment as well as cases to recover full payment for produce purchases.
Another important aspect of PACA is the PACA Trust which permits a seller of agricultural commodities to maintain a trust claim over the commodities themselves, inventories of products derived from the commodities, and receivables and proceeds from the commodities until such time as full payment is provided to the seller. Our attorneys have been successfully aggressive in representing growers and brokers in multiple jurisdictions by enforcing the PACA Trust and literally freezing the assets of buyers in order to obtain payment on agricultural commodities purchases.
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