Topic: www.manurematters.co.uk

[ceres]

In the December issue of Gardeners' World magazine, there is a quarter page colour advert as follows:

nice picture of someone forking into a pile of manure

"Manure matters, so dig a little deeper!

Allotment holders and gardeners have been asking us about herbicide residues in manure.  To help, we've created a special website where you can dig a little deeper to unearth the advice and information you need to fertilise your ground with confidence.  So if you're thinking about manure, please visit:

www.manurematters.co.uk

And please spread this news to your friends.

Dow Agrosciences"

Nice huh?  Except the URL takes you to one of their website pages advertising their 'protection' products.  Bit of a PR disaster I think.

And maybe I'm being cynical but I see this as one of the steps Dow is taking to get their product approval back in time for Spring spraying.  If they have 'educated' gardeners about the the risk of aminopyralid in manure then they have fulfilled their obligations and it's our fault if we get hit?

But I've done as they asked and passed it on to my friends ;)  

[asbean]

Oh dear.  And some (most) people would fall for it too.

They are positively EEEEEEEVIL   >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(

[OllieC]

They are so full of s**t!!!  >:(

[1066]

thanks for the post / info Ceres

[ceres]

Ha ha!  I emailed them after I read the advert and tried the URL.  No reply.  But the URL now links to a page that says:

"Manure Matters, so dig a little deeper!

Recently, we have heard from gardeners and allotment holders who have been concerned about possible herbicide residues in the manure and composts they apply to their soil. The active ingredient involved is called aminopyralid.

There have been a few incidences involving alleged damage to sensitive crops that have been reported here in the UK. The manure possibly came from farm animals or horses fed pasture or conserved forage from grassland previously treated with aminopyralid - an active ingredient found in the products Forefront, Pharaoh or Banish. This manure has unfortunately been supplied to a small number of gardeners and allotment holders and resulted in damage to some sensitive crops.

Manure, from horses or farm livestock, is a wonderful soil conditioner and natural fertiliser, and we do not want gardeners and allotment holders to be afraid of using it. This is why we have created the manurematters website - to provide guidance and advice for its future use. The website is still a few days from completion - we hope to be finished by the beginning of December....so bookmark the address WWW.MANUREMATTERS.CO.UK and please come back then."

(my italics)

So, will they fire the person who placed the advert, the person who linked the URL to a product marketing page for weedkiller or the person who didn't finish the new website on time?  I wonder.........

[flossy]

   Posible  --  may be related  --  alleged  -- some crops  !!!    >:( 

   Sounds like a politician !! 

   ceres, thank you for exposing this ' ploy '  --  what a load of sphericals !!

   I am so cross [ can you tell ]   whole allotments have been destroyed, we still don't know
   for sure how long,  I wont go near animal manure for a long time  --  getting all my nutrients from green manure plus blood , fish and bone meal.

   No , not me  - the plot !   [ before I loose it ! ]


   floss xxx

[telboy]

Ceres,
Another informative post!
In the info. from 'AgroSciences' - 'a FEW incindences'.
Is that a laugh or an effing joke?
 ???

[asbean]

They have a "contact" option.  I for one will be contacting them to give them my two penny'worth of opinion on the skilful use of the English language.  Maybe I'll wait till December and see what the rest of the site is.

Bit of an own goal, putting the advert in before the website is ready.

But I think they will be heavily promoting their own GM (?) "green" manures to use instead.

Whatever happens, there are going to be a lot of stables/farms who will be unable to get rid of their manure.

[ceres]

Update:

"The website is nearing completion and we hope to have it live by the middle of December."

I'd been wondering when "the beginning of December" ended!

Marks out of 10?

[electric landlady]

Well here we are bang on the middle of December....still no website though! Fancy that!  ;) I guess they're busy making sure that the advert banners on it look all lovely.

This does look like a good contender for "Most Cynical PR Ploy By A Company Which Scored A Massive Own Goal 2008" (or 2009 if they don't get a move on)

I'm sticking with green manure, lottie compost and fish blood'n'bone.

[manicscousers]

and leaves and grass clippings  :)

[Melbourne12]

They have a "contact" option.  I for one will be contacting them to give them my two penny'worth of opinion on the skilful use of the English language.  Maybe I'll wait till December and see what the rest of the site is.

Bit of an own goal, putting the advert in before the website is ready.

But I think they will be heavily promoting their own GM (?) "green" manures to use instead.

Whatever happens, there are going to be a lot of stables/farms who will be unable to get rid of their manure.

I think we're being a bit harsh here.

What proportion of allotments have actually been adversely affected?  It's small, even discounting those who don't use manure in the first place.

I think Dow responded rather well in the first instance, as soon as the aminopyralid issue became known.

The web page that manurematters.co.uk currently displays is poorly worded, and the tone is patronising, which shows poor judgment.  But this sort of thing has almost certainly been entrusted to a junior web geek who doesn't know the difference between "incident" and "incidence".  He or she probably doesn't know that the January issue of most magazines is published in December, which would explain why the advert came out ahead of the website.

I can't find any green manures, GM or otherwise, on Dow's product list.  ???  Are they produced by an associated company?

[ceres]

I wrote to Dow yesterday asking them, amongst other things, when the middle of December would be over.  Checked the website this morning, nothing.  Just got home and, hey presto, it's there!

Enjoy!

http://www.dowagro.com/uk/mark-up/index.htm

[telboy]

Ceres,
Has any survey been carried out to estimate the % of allotment/market garden/noted sites that have been affected by this herbicide?
This would challenge their view of 'Very few incidents of garden or allotment crop damage-----------'?

[tonybloke]

What a load of PR !!  "some reported instances"  "possible damage" etc etc.........FUME FUME FUME FUME etc etc etc  >:(

[ceres]

Ceres,
Has any survey been carried out to estimate the % of allotment/market garden/noted sites that have been affected by this herbicide?
This would challenge their view of 'Very few incidents of garden or allotment crop damage-----------'?

Not that I know of.  It was down to individuals to report what happened to them and those that could be bothered did, but there wasn't a single place/person to report to.  Some told Dow, some the PSD, some DEFRA, some the RHS, some their MP............  I know that there were 12 people on my site affected but I was the only one that reported it, the rest thought that was enough.  It's a bit like the 60 sheds break-in thread - few people CBA to take any action themselves.  The last number I saw was from PSD who said they had received I think it was 75 reports.  That was in answer to an MP's question in Parliament so the powers that be think that 75 gardeners were affected.  Why would they worry about that?  I think the problem has been massively under-reported.

[telboy]

Sums it up really - 'Apathy?

[asbean]

Or not knowing - I was talking to a chap a couple of months ago and told himthe contaminated manure story and he said he had had exactly those problems, was quite sure it was due to the manure but didn't know the back story so couldn't make the connection till I told him.  I think it's only the tip of the iceberg.

[ceres]

That's so true, asbean.  Which is why the measures being taken by Dow to 'educate' us are completely inadequate.  Which is the subject of my next round of letter-writing! 

[mrf94]

Just a thought i had,
  Iwas emptying some bags of horse manure thats been around a while, and noticed the the abundance of worms in the manure ,

What effect does this stuff have on the worms , or does it pass through like the animals .

The manure i was using was mixed with wood chip n sawdust type
 bedding so not to worried.

mrf94