A significant fertiliser breakthrough?
Former ACT MP and Federated Farmers president Owen Jennings believes he's come across a new fertilising method in Australia that yields "outstanding results".
Both sides claimed a victory of sorts in a recent High Court case that tested the criteria for labelling phosphate rock as reactive phosphate rock (RPR) in the New Zealand market.
The case was between fertiliser companies Ballance Agri-Nutrients and Quin Environmentals. The former claimed the latter had breached the Fair Trading Act by marketing its Algerian RPR as an RPR product when it hadn’t met the necessary Citsol Test standard required in the Fertmark Code.
While the court clearly ruled that Quin had in fact breached the act and that it could not market its Algerian RPR without a clear qualifying disclaimer about it not meeting the Citsol Test, it did allow Quin to continue to market the product as an RPR (subject to the qualifier), because it otherwise has the physical properties of an RPR. Quin sees this part of the ruling as a “win for science”.
The court also noted in passing that the Citsol Test used as the Fertmark Code criteria for defining what an RPR is in the NZ context is somewhat “arbitrary” and that the Fertiliser Quality Council appears to be moving towards an alternative test – the Watkinson Dissolution Test – which the Algerian phosphate rock scores well in.
However, the court noted it could only rule on the central issue at hand, which was whether or not Quin had failed to meet the Fertmark Code as it stands and therefore breached the Fair Trading Act.
It ruled that the code is currently the industry-accepted standard and that Quin had breached the act with some of its advertising. Ballance sees this as a win for certification standards, saying it brought proceedings in a bid to “maintain the integrity of the Fertmark Code”.
So what is the Citsol Test and why did the court accept, at least in passing, that it may not be the most relevant measure of a RPR? In brief, the test measures the amount of phosphate that can be extracted from a solution of 2% citric acid mixed with a fixed quantity of phosphate rock (not ground up). To meet the Fertmark product classification as RPR, the rock must be shown to contain 30% P by the 30 minute Citsol Test.
While Quin’s Algerian ‘V2’ RPR product – with reduced dolomite to ensure it meets the Citsol standard – passed this test, its other Algerian phosphate rock produced results below 30% P – 27.28% and 28% in tests done by Marsden Agri; 25.20% and 26.19% in tests done by Ballance.
The judge’s comments about the Citsol Test came partly in response to the counterclaim brought by Quin, which claimed Ballance’s Hi P RPR is not a natural RPR product because it is a blend of Sechura RPR and ‘PB3’, which is derived from a phosphate rock but is not an RPR.
Even though the Hi P RPR product is a blend, the judge accepted it was still a phosphate rock and that it passes the Citsol Test, and therefore dismissed the counterclaim, making this observation: “The Hi P RPR example does however show the rather arbitrary nature of the reliance on the Citsol Test for determining what is RPR in New Zealand.”
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.
OPINION: Talking about plant-based food: “Chicken-free chicken” start-up Sunfed has had its valuation slashed to zero by major investor Blackbird…
OPINION: Synlait's financial woes won’t be going away anytime soon.