Product Stewardship: Where do we start?

We know agricultural inputs need to be used safely and used in way that provides a compelling benefit. But how do we maximise the chance of that happening?

In my last post I mention risk assessment tools as a starting point for the product stewardship journey – let’s explore why.

Used expertly, they help us understand what can go wrong and what needs to go right, whether it’s a pesticide with a complicated safety profile or a simple biostimulant where timing and rate are everything.

These assessments draw on two different bodies of knowledge:

• Scientists and engineers understand the product itself, how it behaves and how it is made. This helps us understand the risks across the life cycle of the product and the course of the journey from raw materials to disposal.

• Agronomists and farmers understand how it fits into a farming system, and how it’s likely to be used in the field. This helps us understand the practical realities - where the risks are when the product is in the hands of end users, and where the opportunities lie.

Together, these bodies of knowledge allow us to evaluate risk - combining an estimate of the likelihood of something going wrong (or missing an opportunity) with how bad the consequences would be if it did. We can then focus stewardship efforts on the risks we judge too high to accept.

Once we’ve made that evaluation – we turn to the tools that help maximise the chance that things will go right once the product leaves the factory gate and reaches the farm.

The most common tool I hear about is "training, training, training." But my experience, both as a trainer and a trainee, tells me there's a lot more to it than that. There's a spectrum of possible actions - from formulation tweaks, packaging improvements, farmer capacity building through to extensive value chain engagement programs.

Working out what's risky is only half the job. Next time, I'll get into what to actually do about it.