$100 for Colored Water, Fertilizer Rip Off.

I'm Susan Allen welcome to Washington Ag Today. Are consumers, and farmers getting ripped off buying fertilizers that claim to add soil microbes. Yes According to riveting new study from Oregon's Department of Agriculture's Fertilizer Program. In some cases consumers are paying upwards of $100 for colored water. One example from the ODA found one-liter of retail fertilizer that claimed to have both fungi and bacteria sold for $87.50, yet testing did not indicate the presence any of the microbes.

ODA Enforcement Specialist Toby Prim

Prim: These are ingredients that have grown in interest in every sector from the retail to hydroponic to big ag. There is also interest at the national level in soil health, increasing the microbial content of the soil, they can break down organic matter, release nutrients.

The results of the analyses are not encouraging

Prims: So we have been doing this for three years, and the results are not good. We've had some really big number claimed, and it's coming back as zero.

Out of 82 products claiming to contain beneficial bacteria or certain types of fungi, only 12 met the claims listed on the label. ODA's Fertilizer Program is the only one in the nation checking on ingredient claims made for microbiological products. They have not been able to determine if intentional fraud has taken place or if the products have been mishandled but in either case the results have been shared with the companies that manufacture the product with a warning that ODA will begin to take enforcement action on future claims. Which should have a positive trickle down effect for Washington States home gardeners and farmers as well.

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