PACA violations sideline ABL Farms
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has barred Atlanta-based ABL Farms from operating in the produce industry for two years for violations of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act.
ABL failed to pay more than $2.6 million to 18 sellers for 413 lots of produce, according to a news release. It purchased and received the product between May 2015 and September 2015.
The company can reapply for a PACA license when its ban expires in late April 2019.
No PACA licensee is permitted to employ or be affiliated with the principal of ABL Farms, Aaron Letsinger, until late April 2018. At that time his hire or affiliation would be acceptable only with the posting of a USDA-approved surety bond.
Fitzgerald, Ga.-based Evergreen Farms & Produce and Metter, Ga.-based Hendrix Produce had filed a PACA complaint and a lawsuit against ABL Farms in 2015. Several other produce companies joined the suit as plaintiffs.
ABL Farms, for its part, had filed an action against Wal-Mart, alleging the retailer wrongly rejected more than $2 million in produce from ABL and its affiliate Southern Melon Distributors.
