IANZ Accreditation for Plant NIR Methods
We're pleased to share that we have recently achieved IANZ accreditation for several plant testing methods using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR). This milestone demonstrates our commitment to providing fast, reliable, and accurate testing services for our farmers and growers.
Why Choose NIR Testing?
NIR testing offers significant time savings compared to traditional wet chemistry methods. Previously, our plant chloride, crude protein, residual moisture and total nitrogen tests were all IANZ accredited. We've now achieved accreditation for the following tests:
The Strength of Hill Labs NIR
Our local weighted regression approach, using the nearest neighbour provides flexibility and precision, making sure each sample is interpreted in the most relevant context. When we analyse a new sample, we compare it with hundreds of similar samples in our database. We then build a small, tailored model based on the most similar samples, giving more importance to the closest matches.
We are proud that our NIR library is built exclusively from thousands of New Zealand samples, ensuring results that are highly relevant in a local context. By reflecting New Zealand’s unique soil and plant properties, it provides more accurate and meaningful insights for our customers.
While we have long held IANZ accreditation for reference wet chemistry methods, achieving accreditation for our NIR methods involved meeting additional rigorous standards. This endorsement confirms that our NIR practices and processes have been thoroughly evaluated by technical experts and meet all required criteria. Routine validation and outlier detection are integral to our confident use of NIR technology.
The Benefits of IANZ Accreditation
Accreditation to ISO/IEC17025 gives confidence to our customers that we have a high-performing quality management and assurance system, ensuring that we are producing technically valid results that can be used in confidence.
We are assessed on an annual basis by International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ), who along with technical experts independently review our laboratory operation and test methodologies.
On a global scale, accreditation is the benchmark for laboratories and allows for international recognition of results. With accredited results, New Zealand companies are better placed to access global markets, and to make effective day-to-day business decisions.
Our Commitment to Quality
Given that each organic material has a unique spectrum, we have robust systems in place to detect and flag any outliers, automatically redirecting them to a reference method before releasing results. This protocol guarantees precision and reliability in our testing processes.
We are proud to continue delivering high-quality, NIR results farmers and growers can make confident decisions with.
