Koroberi Blog

On February 9, Dow Chemical registered the website URL www.BanAminopyralid.com. This is a bit questionable since the company actually produces a product called aminopyralid. The domain sits dormant without content and is merely a placeholder - for now.  For UK gardeners last year, and for US gardeners this year, aminopyralid - a hormonal herbicide used to kill weeds in hay and straw fields - has become a nightmare.

Here’s the deal: in the tightly-knit coven of commercial-chemical and -seed producers (often one and the same), agricultural extension services, and growers/producers, the work of the farm gets done via something called a “producer program.”  A “program” consists of soil amendments, herbicides, pesticides and seed stock genetically modified to flourish in this chemical bath. You plant the right seed, you spray the right chemicals and everything comes up roses.

But unintended consequences have a strange way of showing up where you least expect them. In the case with aminopyralid, when hay and straw produced using the chemical was sold to local horse and cattle farms, the chemical was passed along in the produce. Horses and cows eat the hay and sleep on the straw, creating a manure-and-straw-bedding mixture that is then composted, left to cook for a year or so and then sold to compost packagers and vegetable gardeners.

Then something strange happens. The local extension service (find yours here) begins to get calls about twisted tomato vines with curly leaves, wilting eggplant and droopy potato plants. Strawberry producers loose a season’s crop. Suburban gardeners report wilting zinnias. And then you suddenly realize – the herbicide that was in the manure has now contaminated the soil, and may continue to contaminate the soil for years to come, which is just one of many worries, as no one completely understands the full effects of the pesticide.

Recently banned in the UK for its devastating impact on vegetable and flower gardeners (Dow UK has its own reactionary website, this one called www.ManureMatters.co.uk), the true impact of aminopyralid is only just now being felt in the US. While there were some reports of impact last year, they are becoming more frequent this year, in reaction to the application of aged compost by farmers. We appear to be running a year behind the UK in our cycle, but the spring of 2009 will be remembered by many local farmers and market gardeners as the “Spring of Aminopyralid” as they witness the unintended consequences that follow its use.

So when Dow registered www.BanAminopyralid.com, they were undoubtedly anticipating competition for the domain. Or perhaps they were simply being good corporate citizens, preempting the public outcry. What next? As this is America, the likelihood of a class action lawsuit is probably greater than the likelihood of a ban on the chemical. In the meantime, beware of putting any compost on your garden, whether from a plastic bag or from a local farmer in the back of a truck. Buy local, but buyer beware, Dow Chemical’s slogan, “bringing good things to life,” is not necessarily referring to the life of your produce.

Consultants love bad news.

Remember Y2K?

At the moment Y2K was born, from under the rocks and out of the woodwork crawled a legion of consultants to breathe life into this nonevent, and keep the corpse moving long after it was dead. An entire industry was born, lived and eventually died – all on the basis of a suggestion of calamity.

Sarbox too spewed its own spawn onto the consulting pool, but sadly too late to save some of our larger accounting firms.

So as soon as a recession was declared, what do I start getting but hundreds of solicitations of how to survive in a down market.

The delightful irony of course is that most of the purveyors of this advice have been bottom feeding for their entire professional lives, so in this case they could actually have something useful to say about surviving in tough times. For most of these creeps it’s always been a recession, albeit a personal one. I am, however, of the opinion that I can always learn something, even from an absolute idiot. No one ever got smarter by doing all the talking.

No, I’m not going to take advantage of “the best ever opportunity to invest in coastal real estate.”

Nor am I likely to reverse mortgage my home and invest in gold futures.

Could be the best thing I ever did, but lacking a crystal ball and being responsible for earning my own living by running a small business, discretion forms the better part of valor.

My advice? Because apparently we all have it to offer.

Cut your non-essential costs. Provide exceptional value and customer service. Market like mad. And remember to listen. An old buddy of mine who used to do a lot of business in Japan recounted that during his negotiations in Japan, it was most often the quietest guy in the room who was the boss and decision maker. The unassuming guy who would basically just sit there and listen, and then at the end when all the rubes looked eagerly at the “talker” for a decision, the “quiet guy” would respond with the go or no go. So listen. There’s no telling what you might hear. Even from a serial bottom feeder.