EXCLUSIVE: FARMERS across Australia have watched their crops die after unwittingly spraying herbicide contaminated with glyphosate.

Australian-owned agricultural chemical company 4Farmers, which imports chemicals from China, recalled 10,000 litres of Clopyralid 300 because it was contaminated with glyphosate.

CLOPYRALID 300: HERBICIDE CONTAMINATION CAUSE ‘UNCLEAR’

The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority said 4Farmers ­recalled Clopyralid 300 on Friday last week because of “suspected crop damage”.

But The Weekly Times ­believes 4Farmers was notified of damage caused by the herbicide early last week.

On Friday morning, just hours before the recall was published on the APVMA website, when questioned by The Weekly Times, 4Farmers denied it had recalled Clopyralid 300.

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General manager Neil Mortimore said there had been no recall and he stood by the quality of the company’s products.

“We have had no problems with the formulation of our products to date and test every batch,” Mr Mortimore said.

After the recall was published by the APVMA, Mr Mortimore would not answer questions from The Weekly Times about the company’s quality assurance program.

But Mr Mortimore did say 4Farmers was personally contacting “clients” who had purchased Clopyralid 300.

Clopyralid 300 is a herbicide used to control specific weeds after sowing crops such as canola, barley, wheat and oats, whereas glyphosate is a knockdown chemical used to kill all plants before sowing winter crops.

The contaminated batch had been on sale since March.

Agronomists told The Weekly Times they had found thousands of hectares of cropping had died after being sprayed by the contaminated Clopyralid 300.

Documents show a 20-litre drum of 4Farmers Clopyralid 300 tested on July 25 contained 128g per litre of glyphosate.

One farmer, who did not want to be named, said he sprayed Clopyralid 300 just three days before it was ­recalled.

“We have sprayed it on half of our crops but we won’t know if there’s any damage for about three weeks ... it’s going to be a very stressful time,” the farmer said.

This is the eighth time in seven months herbicide has been recalled because of contamination and more than 290,000 litres — or 14,500 drums — of herbicide has been recalled since December.