House Bill 1147 was passed by the Senate Monday. It would charge farmers more money to get their seed tested by the state.

The Office of Indiana State Chemist offers to test seed for purity and germination, but only charges about half as much as what private companies do. Officials with the agency say that makes it harder for them to provide that service.

READ MORE: The cost of testing agricultural seed would go up under Senate bill

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Among other things, the bill would allow the state chemist to keep fees in line with industry standards and change them more often.

A similar bill, SB 129, is working its way through the Indiana House.

Contact reporter Rebecca at rthiele@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.

Indiana Environmental reporting is supported by the Environmental Resilience Institute, an Indiana University Grand Challenge project developing Indiana-specific projections and informed responses to problems of environmental change.