Testimony of Jeff Olson
Program Manager
Senate Bill 2124
January 9, 2003
9:30 a.m.
Senate Agriculture Committee
Roosevelt Room

Chairman Flakoll and members of the committee, my name is Jeff Olson, Program Manager with the North Dakota Department of Agriculture. I am here to provide testimony is support of SB 2124. We testified in support of this bill, SB 2204, in the 2001 Legislative Session for defining the tolerance of noxious weeds in seeds.

We agree that there should be a zero tolerance to Yellow Starthistle. But, we also feel that other noxious weeds listed in North Dakota Century Code 63-01.1-03 (2) should have a tolerance of zero. The other eleven weeds are: Absinth wormwood, Canada thistle, Dalmatian toadflax, Diffuse knapweed, Field bindweed, Leafy spurge, Musk thistle, Purple loosestrife, Russian knapweed, Saltcedar, and Spotted knapweed. The state of North Dakota allocates approximately $1.7 million dollars each biennium on weed control. This does not count the dollars spent at the local level. Because of this investment each year, we feel that eliminating the noxious weed seeds from commercial seeds would go a long way in trying to get control of the most problematic weeds in the state.

I ask the Committee to go slowly with this bill as we meet with all interested parties to discuss any additional weeds to be included with this bill.

Thank you for consideration of this bill. I would be happy to answer any questions.