Douglas Charles Edmeades ONZM (born 1949) is a New Zealand soil scientist. He was involved in high-profile litigation in relation to the effectiveness of the Maxicrop brand of fertiliser.
Doug Edmeades | |
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.jpg) Edmeades in 2013 | |
| Born | Douglas Charles Edmeades 1949 (age 74–75) Hamilton, New Zealand |
| Alma mater | Lincoln University / University of Canterbury |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Soil Science |
| Thesis | The measurement of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in established pastures and some aspects of the nitrogen cycle in a sequence of pastures of increasing age (1976) |
Early life
Edmeades was born in 1949. Robert Harvey (1914–1985) and Ina (née Fitness, 1917–2011) were his parents. The educationalist Cliff Edmeades is one of his elder brothers.[1][2]
Academic career
After a Ph.D. from Lincoln College (awarded in 1976 through Canterbury University due to Lincoln's status at the time)[3] Edmeades worked for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries at Ruakura and then AgResearch after the 1992 reorganisation which created Crown Research Institutes. He left in 1996[4] and now runs his own consultancy, agKnowledge Ltd.[5]
In the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours, Edmeades was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to agriculture.[6][7][8]
Litigation
In 1989, while working for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Edmeades appeared on the TV show FairGo expressing the view that seaweed-based Maxicrop didn't work.[9] Legal action was initiated by Maxicrop's New Zealand distributor, the Bell-Booth Group. In Bell-Booth Group Ltd v Attorney-General the Court of Appeal found for MAF and FairGo[9] after 'the country's longest civil court case.'[5]
Selected works
Widely cited peer review articles:
- Edmeades, Douglas C. "The long-term effects of manures and fertilisers on soil productivity and quality: a review." Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 66.2 (2003): 165–180.
- Edmeades, D. C., D. M. Wheeler, and O. E. Clinton. "The chemical composition and ionic strength of soil solutions from New Zealand topsoils." Soil Research 23.2 (1985): 151–165.
- Blamey, F. P. C., D. C. Edmeades, and D. M. Wheeler. "Role of root cation‐exchange capacity in differential aluminum tolerance of Lotus species." Journal of Plant Nutrition 13.6 (1990): 729–744.
Books:
- Science friction : the Maxicrop case and the aftermath. ISBN 0473068869