Growers seek answers from FMC about Overwatch

It was the first year the Group Q chemical was available to growers and excitement was high for the new mode of action, however by June last year reports of bleaching in crops treated with the product and off-target damage in nearby paddocks began to emerge.

The impact of Overwatch varied widely depending on the commodity and the seasonal conditions, with barley appearing to be the most at risk and rainfall soon after spraying often making it worse.

In many cases, crops recovered from the bleaching effect and no long-term damage was done.

But for some farmers, the impact worsened during the season, with reports of losses of more than $500,000.

Ardath farmer Paul Thompson had about 95 hectares of canola which was very badly damaged, as well as four paddocks of barley, totalling about 300ha.

The minute those crops came up last year, he knew he had issues and contacted the retailer he purchased the chemical through, which immediately contacted FMC.

By August, Mr Thompson had serious issues and the crops were not recoverable.

He waited until harvest to check the yield monitors on the headers to see the difference between Overwatch versus non-Overwatch as he had a lot of hectares which hadn't been sprayed with it.

"It was agreed with FMC that this would be the fairest comparison so after harvest we sent that data to them, but for months we never heard anything back," Mr Thompson said.

"Eventually we got a letter which offered us 10 per cent of the compensation claim, to be paid in product - they said it wasn't an admission of liability or related to our concerns, but was a goodwill incentive.

"At that stage, our claim was about $179,000 and they offered us $17,000 worth of Overwatch, but there's no way we would ever use their product again in our lives, so it was utterly useless and we've been hung out to dry."

For its part, FMC head of development Geoff Robertson said the company had worked closely with Australian growers and their advisers to assist with the safe and responsible use of its products.

"FMC addresses any grower enquiries on a case-by-case basis and respects the privacy of Australian growers and does not discuss their confidential enquiries," Mr Robertson said.

After receiving the initial offer from FMC, Mr Thompson had his agronomist compile a rebuttal which took several months to assemble the necessary evidence.

It ended up costing even more in terms of time and money to pay the agronomist and a lawyer to look into things, so he upped his claim to more than $200,000.

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About two months ago Mr Thompson received an email from FMC which he said did not acknowledge any fault of Overwatch and told him he had 14 days to accept the original offer or it was off the table.

"It also said that if we took the offer, we weren't allowed to speak about the claim or speak badly of the product," Mr Thompson said.

He said he was clutching at straws on what to do next.

In September last year, Sydney-based legal firm Levitt Robinson started seeking expressions of interest from farmers for a proposed class action against FMC on the grounds Overwatch caused damage to barley crops.

By July last year more than 100 cases had been reported by farmers across the country and more were rolling in.

Since then, news on the progress of the class action has been quiet.

Levitt Robinson has confirmed the class action was still in the pipeline but was unwilling to comment further on its progress.

For independent agronomist Craig Davis, based in South Australia's Mid North and Yorke Peninsula, the potential class action would be the last resort for his clients who had spent the past year trying, and failing, to negotiate directly with FMC.

"My clients and I have tried every avenue we can think of with FMC, but we've gotten nowhere and they feel like they're out of options," Mr Davis said.

"We don't think individual legal action is the way to go, so a class action seems like the best option as the cases are so widespread and variable across the country, which really shows it was a nationwide issue.

"We don't like the idea of it, we know a class action isn't a great look for the wider agricultural industry, but this is the last hope growers have to get something back from FMC."

From FMC's perspective, the company has not been contacted about a class action this year and as of now, no legal action has been filed.

Mr Thompson wants to know if others had similar experiences.

"We're a year on, attention has diminished, the class action has fizzled out and there seems no way of being able to hold the chemical giant to account," he said.