Field Station Farms LLC and its Associate Growers Provide No Warranties on Plants

CVNLA membership CURRENT 2024 

VA Nursery Permit CURRENT 2024

Permit Number: 91-486549-75

Our industry standard “no-warranty policy” is stated and explained below: 

Field Station Farms LLC is a wholesale nursery serving the landscape and nursery trade. Customers in or outside of the trade agree to and understand that buying direct from a grower at wholesale prices provides both economy and risk. Plants will unexpectedly perish or fail, sometimes en masse, sometimes singularly or in groups. Plants will also not be entirely uniform throughout a crop. As an industry standard, wholesale growers and re-wholesalers in the horticulture industry ship FOB “free on board” (see definition below). When customer items touch the truck or trailer, regardless of payment status, and the grower or wholesaler provides no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, for plants to live for any given amount of time under any conditions. This is our policy. We provide no warranty, expressed or implied. If customers desire a warranty we request and will refer these customers to retail nurseries that will provide such warranties on plant material. This “no warranty” policy is standard in the wholesale and rewholesale nursery trade in Virginia and elsewhere. 

Free on Board

Free on Board (FOB) is a shipment term that defines the point in the supply chain when a buyer or seller becomes liable for the goods being transported. Purchase orders between buyers and sellers specify the FOB terms and help determine ownership, risk, and transportation costs. Our goods sold to customers at Field Station Farms LLC are shipped FOB their point of origin—may that be the field, the nursery, or other location direct from a grower.

By visiting Field Station Farms LLC or purchasing plants from the farm and nursery customers agree to these terms and understand them as an industry standard. These terms are practiced by our peers and must be upheld through the trade. Sometimes a customer who is not familiar with these terms will buy a lot of nice expensive plants and have some of these plants die. They will generally contact us, understandably upset at this loss, and ask what we can do. This is an unfortunate situation but it does happen, especially with customers who are outside the trade or who have not purchased extensively grower-direct. Please be patient with us and understand that we cannot do anything in this situation other than sell replacement plants to the customer. We are people just like you, and we do not want anyone to be upset with us or to feel that we have wronged them. Sometimes folks will make “grower practice” claims against growers for the way a tree or plant is wrapped, packed, transported, or otherwise produced. These claims are aimed at saying that negligence was involved in production, in some aspect, and that the grower is liable for losses after planting or delivery. All of our plants are purchased with the understanding that we adhere to no “standard practice” in the production of nursery stock, and that stock is grown, cultivated, and prepared by different means throughout the trade. Claims made for B&B material consistency, shape, media texture, or other specifics will not be honored. Claims made regarding pruning practices or other practices involved in the production of material will not be honored. Our nursery stock is regularly inspected by the state inspector and by our own agricultural consultant and it is a part of the nursery inspection program for our stock to be evaluated and deemed fit for sale. Any nursery stock sold through Field Station Farms LLC is subject to such scrutiny and if it has been sold, the nursery inspector has deemed it fit for sale by proxy.

We do not wish to grow, sell, or distribute a bad product or a product that we know will fail the customer. However, we cannot guarantee that all plants will survive. It is simply not possible. And sometimes random things will happen that cause 10% 20% 50% 90% 100% losses. These instances occur and it is terribly unfortunate that we cannot control them. We do our best to provide a good product at a fair price and hope that our customers do their best to care for the material. We love and value our customers more than anything and want all of our associates and accounts to be happy. For this reason we ask for mutual understanding on these terms which help us maintain the most economical and competitive prices in the horticulture industry. 

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