Commercial fertilizers and beneficial substances generally must be registered before sale or distribution, with some exemptions.
1. Each brand and grade of commercial fertilizer and each beneficial substance shall be registered before being offered for sale, sold, or otherwise distributed in this state; except that a commercial fertilizer formulated according to special specifications furnished by a consumer to fill the consumer’s order shall not be required to be registered, but shall be labeled as provided in section 200.6, subsection 1, paragraph “c”. The application for registration shall be submitted to the secretary on forms furnished by the secretary and shall be accompanied by a label setting forth the guaranteed analysis which shall be the same as that appearing on the registered product. 2. A registration shall be permanent, provided, however, that the secretary may request a listing of products to be currently manufactured. The application shall include the following information in the following order: a. Net weight, if sold in packaged form. b. Name and address of the registrant. c. Name of product. d. Brand. e. Grade, if the product contains a recognized plant food. f. Guaranteed analysis. 3. In addition to the information required in subsection 2, an application for the registration of a beneficial substance must include the name or chemical designation and percentage of content of each of the active ingredients. Each microbial organism ingredient must be identified with species and genus in colony-forming units per gram for a dry product or per milliliter for a liquid product. Another unit of quantity may be acceptable if an accurate and verifiable guarantee is presented. 4. The secretary is authorized to adopt rules under chapter 17A regulating the labeling and registration of commercial fertilizers and beneficial substances, when necessary in the secretary’s opinion. The secretary may require any reasonable information in addition to section 200.3, subsection 17, which is necessary and useful to the purchasers of commercial fertilizers and beneficial substances of this state and to promote uniformity among states. 5. The secretary is authorized to adopt rules under chapter 17A establishing minimum acceptable levels of components recognized as effective to aid crops produced in this state and to require such warning statements as may be deemed necessary to prevent injury to crops or for user safety. 6. The secretary, whenever the secretary deems it necessary in the administration of this chapter, may require the submission of additional data about any article, including a fertilizer, beneficial substance, or other product regulated under this chapter to support the claims made for it. If it appears to the secretary that the composition of the article is such as to warrant the claims made for it, and if the article, its labeling and other material required to be submitted, comply with the requirements of this chapter, the secretary shall register the product. 7. If it does not appear to the secretary that the article is such as to warrant the proposed claims for it, or if the article and its labeling and other material required to be submitted do not comply with a provision of this chapter, the secretary shall notify the registrant of the manner in which the article, labeling, or other material required to be submitted fails to comply with this chapter so as to afford the registrant an opportunity to make the necessary corrections before resubmitting the label. 8. It shall be the responsibility of the registrant to submit satisfactory evidence of favorable effects and safety of the product. 9. The secretary shall establish minimum requirements for the registration of fertilizers and beneficial substances by efficacy testing or the substantiation of data relevant to this state’s crops and soils. 10. A distributor shall not be required to register any brand and grade of commercial fertilizer or beneficial substance which is already registered under this chapter by another person. [S13, §2528-f, -f1; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §3139 – 3141; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, §200.4; C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §200.5] 2017 Acts, ch 159, §41; 2025 Acts, ch 134, §5 Referred to in §200.6, 200.13 Section amended