	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. 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 after 'the country's longest civil court case.'