A leading fertiliser manufacturer, Summit Quinphos, has been found to have made misleading claims over the effectiveness of its nitrogen-inhibiting product SustaiN.
An independent report commissioned by the Fertiliser Quality Council has found the company "exaggerated the effect of their products" in advertisements and newsletters, claiming it could improve pasture response by 69%.
Ravensdown Fertiliser complained to the council that Summit Quinphos, now wholly-owned by Ballance Agri-Nutrients, was using misleading promotional material and that its claims were inconsistent with those made by Agrotain International, which supplies a fertiliser enhancer to Summit.
Subsequent publicity amended that response to 50% and lower.
Details of the case can now be made public after Summit sought a High Court injunction to prevent the release of the independent study, but decided not to continue with the application after the case was heard.
In his decision, Justice Forrest Miller said it appeared both Ravensdown and Ballance were unhappy with the performance claims made by Summit and, while not a member of FertResearch, Summit agreed to a review of its research trials by a subsidiary body, the Fertiliser Quality Council (FQC).
This was done at the suggestion of Summit by Dr Catherine Watson, an expert in nitrogen inhibitors, and the head of the agri-environment branch of the Agri-food and Bioscience Institute in Ireland.
She reviewed data supplied by Summit, Ravensdown and Ballance and concluded Summit was "exaggerating the effect of the SustaiN products by expressing the results as the increase over urea at the same rate as a percentage"; using ambiguous and misleading terminology; and presenting nitrogen response efficiency data that was not shown to be statistically different.
In May, the FQC notified Summit it had accepted Dr Watson's findings and concluded a breach of the code of practice had occurred which warranted a public statement correcting its claims.
Summit technical services manager Jamie Blennerhassett replied that Dr Watson's report was wrong, potentially libellous, did not follow the terms of reference and he questioned some of her technical interpretations.
Agreement between the parties was reached in August with Dr Watson updating her report.
When in early September the FQC told Summit it was to release Dr Watson's report, an application for an injunction was made to the High Court.
Summit and Agrotain alleged publication would be an "injurious falsehood and misleading conduct for purposes of the Fair Trading Act".
Among other claims, Summit said that it had never claimed or released public material on the attributes of SustaiN related to in Dr Watson's report.
Justice Miller said Summit's advertising was misleading.
"It is apt to lead to believe that SustaiN reliably delivers dramatic increases of 50% or more over urea in pasture yield.
"While the trial data does point to material increases in yield in some cases, those increases do not correspond to the average percentages highlighted by Summit Quinphos and it is not self evident that the increases in yield justify the extra cost of SustaiN."
After a hearing and before Justice Miller released his report, Summit withdrew its injunction application.
