Warning about fertiliser scams

Every year farmers get bombarded with new fertiliser products, each claiming various attributes to help production, or create a healthier soil.

Unfortunately many of these products are  not backed by credible science, or extensive trials to back up the promoters claims.

I remember once being touted with a new brew, which had no science  backing it, instead they used pictures which claimed a deep green of the pasture proved its success!!

The question arises why do a small percentage of farmers get sucked in by these sales pitches?  No question that fertiliser is a much more expensive input than it was years ago, and many are looking for  cheaper options for a similar effect. But as this article comments, sales people do not need any scientific expertise to sell fertiliser.

Are we missing an independent body to set the benchmarks for integrity  and claims within this industry. Even the two fertiliser Co-Operatives often squabble about the advantages of their products, so it is difficult for farmers to decide.

Beware of “the quackery” in the fertiliser industry says NZ's only independent fertiliser adviser Doug Edmeades. There are always a number of alternative “fertilisers” and soil “enhancers” being touted to farmers and growers and Edmeades, who has been an independent adviser for more than a decade, has done the science to refute them reports The Gisborne Herald.

Among the latest were potions that claimed to sequester more carbon in soils. “Anyone who tells you their product will increase carbon in the soil and help offset the ETS is telling a load of bullshit,” he says. The NZ pastoral farming system had three components — the soil, pasture and the animal. “This system is very good for accumulating organic matter (which includes carbon). From a virgin soil it takes 30 to 50 years to build up organic matter and then it reaches a plateau — there is nothing more you can do to increase this.”

Another scam lately has been an idea to put sugar-rich products on pasture with the intention of improving sugar levels in the pasture, says Edmeades.This is then measured using the Brix test to show the levels but depending on the time of day and what is happening with photosynthesis, the result will vary. “Also the amount of soluble sugar makes no difference to the animal — its nonsense.”

Dolomite was another new product causing suspicion. It claimed to have a catalyst to unlock nutrients in the soils. “Soils do not make nutrients — soil stores them.  A big issue in the fertiliser industry was that no one had to have any qualification to advise farmers, Edmeades says.

AgFirst farm consultant Peter Andrew said the number of doubtful products out there getting picked up by “good” farmers was a serious issue.“Farmers are wasting good money on a lot of rubbish.”