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Exposed: The Death of Journalism in Horticulture & Agriculture · Hydroponics Daily

• 0:00
  Hello there and welcome back to
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  Hydroponics Daily, your go-to podcast for everything soilless cultivation.
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  And I'm your host, Dr. Russell Sharp, the founder of Utrema Ltd.
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  And in the words of Howard Beale from the film Network, I'm mad as hell and
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  I'm not going to take it anymore.
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  If you are listening to this in the car and you've got kids,
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  I warn you, I am going to swear in this because I am royally annoyed,
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  let's put it that way, with the horticultural and agricultural press.
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  I used to think that people who said that the mainstream media was corrupt and
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  not telling the public the truth were crazy conspiracy theorists,
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  often, you know, spouted by right-wing idiots on Twitter.
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  But my dealings with the agricultural and horticultural and national press over
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  the last 12 months have meant that I have lost faith in politics.
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  Journalism. Basically in the United Kingdom and further afield,
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  especially in agriculture and horticulture,
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  I don't believe there is any investigative journalism going on.
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  I don't believe anyone's actually giving an opinion when
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  they are doing research and I believe they
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  are just pumping out fluff pieces and press releases and advertorials and not
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  giving the public what they need to know in this ever-increasing world where
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  we need to know about environmental threats and public safety when it comes
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  to our food. And I'm really annoyed.
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  I have given them press releases and stories over the last 12 months.
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  Just look at my reporting on ICL, Israel Chemicals Limited.
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  I showed that they are selling white phosphorus for military use.
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  I showed that they are funding a whole battalion of the Israeli army,
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  the Gadza 585, which have been filmed burning polytunnels in Gaza.
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  I mean, if the horticulture industry are not concerned with this, what the hell?
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  Talked about Osmocote and those controlled release granules that are putting
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  microplastics willingly into soils in horticulture and like Miracle-Go granules
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  as well that are going into.
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  Into the soil directly and people are just throwing microplastics without
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  even realizing it into their soil all all being
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  led by icl and the horticulture
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  industry can't care less why is that well if you go to hort news website if
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  you go to horticulture week if you go to new ag international if you go to pitch
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  care etc etc etc you'll always see a big banner for icl fertilizers at the top of those publications,
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  and you'll see the adverts, big, full, A4-page adverts in those publications,
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  because they're all sponsored.
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  They're all sucking on the tit of the Israel Chemicals Limited.
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  Now, I am not an anti-Semite. I am not anti-Israeli. But that is a news story.
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  If somebody is selling white phosphorus and military use, if they are funding
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  a military battalion that's been filmed burning greenhouse,
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  if they are pumping out plastics into our soils,
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  then that is a news story and they are neglecting their
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  journalism duty by doing that why are they getting into journalism in
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  the first place if they don't want to run cutting-edge stories like that you
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  know i can't believe that is not a story that is worthy of attention and obviously
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  you go back to january and my reporting on people trying to sell farmers cobalt
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  and nickel fertilizers these These are known 100% carcinogens,
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  completely residual.
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  They stick around in your lungs, in the soil, in the environment. These are heavy metals.
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  Highly toxic, carcinogenic. People are actively trying to sell them in Europe,
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  North America, Australia.
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  I've named names. I've given the journalists everything they need to know,
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  and not one of them has run a story about it.
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  They're trying to sell these carcinogenic fertilisers to organic farmers.
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  They're being sold by charlatans and con men, and no one has been prepared to do that. So why is that?
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  Why are there no news sites doing that? Why are they only running advertorials,
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  adverts, and things like this, I think that they are scared to be the first
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  person to put the head up of the parapet apart from me on my podcast,
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  even when they're given cut and dry categorical evidence.
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  They could go to the European Chemical Safety Database run by the European Union
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  in Finland, and fact check everything I have said about carcinogenic fertilisers.
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  This is not debatable. This is not my opinion.
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  These are 100% stonewalled carcinogenic fertilisers being actively attempted
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  to be sold to farmers by Danish companies, American companies,
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  Australian companies, and no one has been prepared apart from me to talk about it.
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  And it's really, really pissing me off.
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  Same with the ICR stories. So as I say, why do these people get into journalism?
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  And, you know, the Garden Media Guild is a group of journalisms,
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  and they're just circle jerking themselves.
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  They've got a list of podcasts that have been nominated for their awards recently,
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  and it's all the industry insiders, including one podcast that's got one one
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  hundredth of the output of this podcast. And yeah, we didn't even get a sniff.
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  And then you've got things like Horticulture Week, which is hidden behind paywalls.
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  How often do you go to a journalist a a news
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  site for horticulture or agriculture and it's hidden behind a
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  paywall and how often do you actually get
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  an opinion or or when you do get an
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  editorial in one of these magazines it's weak as piss and it's just absolute
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  nonsense you know saying oh it's march and plants are about to you know spring
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  into life and this is a season of rejuvenation or something like that absolute
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  just absolute shite so i am really annoyed with the horticulture and agriculture industry.
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  The agriculture industry, they, you know, take it up the arse from ICL as well.
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  The polyhalyte factories in North Yorkshire, they're owned by ICL.
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  Polyhalyte's a big thing in a lot of the agricultural industry journals.
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  It's a good job. I own my company. I don't have any shareholders because I'd
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  probably be sacked for saying this.
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  But as I say, it's 100% correct, and it's my opinion, and I am pissed off.
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  Let me know what you think of the states of agriculture and horticultural journalism
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  in the UK, in the US, and elsewhere, but I'm just really sick of it.
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  You know, you bring these stories and no one seems to...
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  They'll do a story on an environmental issue that is just so minor compared
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  to willingly using carcinogenic fertilizers that blows your tiny mind. And I,
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  Yeah, if you've got any other stories that you think should be brought to the
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  attention of the public, let me know.
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  And I'm more than happy to feature them on Hydroponics Daily,
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  even if it's not to do with hydroponics.
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  As I say, this is a hydroponics-only podcast, soilless cultivation,
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  but at Eutrema we cover all sorts of aspects, and we compare the benefits of
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  soil cultivation to soilless cultivation.
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  And not having microplastics and carcinogens in your growing environment is
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  a big benefit for hydroponics.
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  So stick that in your pipe and smoke
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  it that's been hydroponics daily for today if you thought it
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  was useful then give us a five-star review if you're a journalist
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  i've offended i don't care and if you'd
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  like to know more about me and what we stand for at utreema
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  basically we so we sell fertilizers biostimulants
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  and biopesticides but we also actively
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  try and reduce the amount of chemicals and
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  toxins being applied to food and
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  soils things like reducing herbicide use
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  through our black grass black grass biologicals program
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  and our use of non-biocidal pesticides
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  everything we do has got a moral compass and i wish more organizations could
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  say the same start with your why rather than your how or your what examples
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  you know simon cynic would say that's been me blabbering on for too long.
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  I'm going to go down, have a beer, calm down, but let me know your thoughts.
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  And if you agree or you disagree, really interested if you disagree.
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  Okay. Thank you very much for listening. Goodbye.