Maxicrop firm taking action against M.A.F.

Press, 29 June 1985, Page 2

Maxicrop firm taking action against M.A.F.

The Bell-Booth group, distributor of the plant growth stimulant Maxicrop, plans to take legal action against the Ministiy of Agriculture and Fisheries. The action has been prompted by what the managing director of the group, Mr Mark Bell-Booth, described as continued assertions that Maxicrop was of no benefit to farmers. “That is just not true,” he said. “I am stunned. I can’t believe that the Ministry would continue to prejudice its position further. We intend to refute their statements and actions in court. “Our name has never, ever been dragged through the mud like this before,” he said. Details of the writs were being completed and he expected they would be filed in the High Court soon. Mr Bell-Booth objected to assertions earlier this week by Dr Bert Quin, chief soil fertility scientist at Ruakura Agricultural Research Centre, that regardless of how Maxicrop was promoted, Ministry of Agriculture trials had shown no consistent benefits from applications of the

product. In April, the Ministry used the television programme “Fair Go” to advance a similar message and to say that Maxicrop legally constituted a fertiliser, but could not be sold because it had not been registered as such. However, the Registrar of Fertilisers later withdrew the requirement for registration. Mr Bell-Booth said the Ministry clearly was wrong in saying that trials with Maxicrop had shown no benefits. “Working with the findings of those trials, they cannot reach such a conclusion with any degree of scientific certainty. “I can’t think of an occasion when a company has had to face an attack of this type where so little research has gone in,” he said. “Maxicrop has been sold in New Zealand for 25 years and every time it has been used by a farmer has been a trial. It is significant that we have had many offers of assistance from farmer clients in defending the claims of the Ministry.”