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To celebrate our 40 year success story, we're giving away a free test* to 40 lucky winners who enter on our stand at Fieldays, 12-15 June 2024, Mystery Creek, Hamilton. Come and see us at site PE24 in The Pavilion to enter!

Over the past four decades, Hill Labs has been at the forefront of environmental testing in New Zealand. We initially provided basic water tests for farmers, but in 1986, following an enquiry about water analysis for mining projects, the Environmental division was established. The landscape of environmental testing shifted significantly with the enactment of the Resource Management Act in 1991, which precipitated a surge in demand for Hill Labs’ services.

When Roger and Anne Hill started Hill Laboratories, they had no idea what was ahead of them. Roger had been working as the manager of a small, private soil testing lab in Cambridge, but when it was clear the promised significant shareholding was not going to happen, it was very unsettling. Anne finally said to him “You know what you are going to have to do. You need to leave and start your own laboratory, otherwise you will just grow into a grumpy old man, wondering what might have been.”

For nearly four decades, Hill Labs has provided high quality testing solutions to enable decision making to protect the future of New Zealand’s waterways. Over the years, our operations have been optimised to allow for high-quality, reliable test results to be delivered around the country as quickly as possible.

Soil health has become a hot topic in recent years – and rightly so. If our soil has the nutrients and organic matter it needs to thrive, production also thrives. Soil testing takes the guesswork out of nutrient management and allows sound decisions to be made, whether that’s how to optimise the use of fertiliser or other management practices for sustainable production.

Hill Labs is New Zealand’s leading provider of sampling and testing services to the kiwifruit industry. In 2020, Hill Labs grasped the opportunity to become the largest provider of kiwifruit sampling and maturity testing services to Zespri, who oversee the distribution and marketing of New Zealand kiwifruit around the world. Armed with a well-established testing reputation, they were a natural front runner to take on testing in the Bay and beyond.