SoundScienceNews from NRM, Sciantec & Sci-Tech Issue 5 - 2014

Divisions of Cawood Scientific Limited

After so many years at the NFU arguing the case for a strong UK agricultural science base, I was very pleased to see the publication of the Agri-Tech Strategy in July 2013. It signals the Government’s realisation that farming is a critical industrial sector and can be an important part of the economic recovery.

However, if British agriculture is to fulfil its potential and become more productive and competitive, the application of science into commercial farming practice on a large scale must be significantly boosted.

We need genuine collaboration between research centres, a culture of equality of expertise between scientists and farmers, and a skills and training infrastructure that is fit for purpose. And it goes wider than just academic activity, innovative technologies, upskilling and optimising management. The whole regulatory context in which we work must support and not hinder progressive, efficient and innovative businesses.

Sustainable intensification is an important goal for agriculture here and around the world. There have been numerous academic papers and debates on the subject over the last couple of years since the publication of the UK Royal Society’s ‘Reaping the Benefits’ report in 2009. I have often used the phrase ‘produce more, impact less’ as a way to describe the practical actions farmers can take on the ground.

I am aware that some groups are less comfortable with the concept of sustainable intensification, seeing it as a ‘Trojan horse’ for the industry to justify business as usual. They argue that there is plenty of food and we must simply waste less, moderate diets, reduce meat consumption and allow access to the world’s calories through better distribution.

But the reality is that all these challenges must be addressed. Continued on page 4...

Inside this issue

Meet the staff 2 Introducing Sciantec’s Alan Ash and NRM’s Lloyd Khadhani

Cawood welcomes Sci-Tech 3 Respected poultry analytical services business adds new dimension

New soil lab opens 5 NRM open new purpose-built facility in Swaffham, Norfolk

Grain testing expertise 5 How two grain proficiency testing schemes managed by Sciantec underpin global trade

Sciantec helps Giant Pandas 6 Exploring the nutritional content of different bamboos

Web portal welcomed 6 Customers are gaining real benefits from web portal facility

Cawood Scientific buys Sci-Tech LaboratoriesOn 10 December 2013, the poultry microbiological and serological analytical testing

business, Sci-Tech Laboratories, became part of the Cawood Scientific Group.

Commenting on the acquisition, Group Managing Director Nigel Patrick said: “This move

further strengthens the Cawood Scientific Group’s position as the UK’s largest truly

independent provider of accredited analytical laboratory

testing services for the land-based sector.” Turn to pages

3 & 4 to find out how this new business complements

the existing services provided by NRM Laboratories and

Sciantec Analytical Services.

Soil analysis vital part of sustainable farming

Peter Kendall – NFU President

Meet the staff

Alan Ash, SciantecSciantec’s Technical Support Manager, Alan Ash, joined the business in 1993. With a background in chemistry his first job was, unsurprisingly, in the laboratory.

Over the past 20 years his understanding of animal feed analysis has grown. His managerial skills have also been tested with spells as Laboratory Manager and then Technical Manager before his current Technical Support role. Originally from Teesside, it was his desire to return north that lead him to take a pay cut from his quality control job in a pharmaceutical company down south, and move to the Health Authority in Stockton on Tees. After a couple of years he spotted the vacancy at Sciantec and the rest is history.

Alan graduated in 1984 with a degree in chemistry and chemistry continues to be his first love. Today he is proud to be a chartered chemist. This award by the Royal Society of Chemistry recognises experienced practising chemists who have demonstrated an in-depth knowledge of chemistry, professionalism in the workplace and a commitment to maintaining technical expertise.

His current job is extremely varied and calls upon his technical chemistry skills. He provides advice to customers explaining the

chemistry and methodology used to produce their results and helping them with result interpretation. The job also involves helping colleagues in a sort of troubleshooting role and getting involved in method development and validation of potential new analytical techniques.

A very important aspect is to review the results before they go out to customers. “It might be that each individual result looks entirely sensible but when you look at them as a whole there may be anomalies that need further investigation,” he says. This thorough overview by experts in their field is an essential part of the Sciantec quality check. “Customers are going to act on the results so they need to have total confidence in the figures,” he adds.

Alan is married to Susan with two children, Sarah, (20) who is currently at university and James (16) who is studying for his ‘A’ Levels. Outside work he keeps fit by running and puts his chemistry skills to a good practical use, home winemaking.

Senior Analyst, Lloyd Kadhani, joined NRM almost ten years ago, in March 2004. In his current role he is Team Leader in the soil characterisation department, based at Bracknell in Berkshire.

Originally from Zimbabwe, Lloyd holds a degree in Applied Biochemistry from the Zimbabwe National University of Science & Technology.

After graduating he worked for the Dairy Board before joining multinational Johnson & Johnson but the company relocated to South Africa because of the political situation in Zimbabwe. Lloyd took a job with the pharmaceutical company, Pharmanova, working

there for four years as Production Superintendent.

In 2004 he followed his wife Tokozani to the UK. Tokozani had accepted a job in the NHS which is where she still works today. The couple have two children, a girl Tinashe and a boy, David, who are both at school locally in Slough.

Lloyd is a great example of NRM’s commitment to staff development. Supported by the company he has completed a masters degree in Soil & Environmental Pollution at Reading University.

Whilst he leads a team of four ensuring that health & safety and good laboratory practices are followed and all the analytical equipment is in full working order, he likes to lead by example. His enthusiasm is infectious and he is always happy to roll up his sleeves and get involved in soil organic matter, pH, soil textural classification, water NFT analysis, trace elements and cation exchange capacity.

When he’s not at work, or relaxing with his family, Lloyd’s big passion is football and, specifically, Manchester City. However being such a long way from Manchester the opportunity to see his favourite club is very limited. He’s hoping that local team Reading will win promotion to the Premiership and then he’ll get a chance to see Manchester City in action.

Lloyd Khadhani

Lloyd Khadhani, NRM

Alan Ash

New purpose-built soil laboratory opensNRM’s new state-of-the-art soil testing laboratory was officially opened by chairman Sir Ben Gill on 21 November.

Based in Swaffham, Norfolk, in the UK’s arable heartland, the new laboratory is the first East Anglia-based facility fully accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 for analysis of agricultural soils to the standards required in both the UK and Ireland. Section Head for NRM Swaffham is Annie Sneath.

Opening the new laboratory, Sir Ben said: “Soil is the basic raw material of farming. Gaining an understanding of it is fundamental to improving crop yields and quality so that farmers can produce more but impact less.”

He continued: “The traditional UK advisory soil test allows informed decisions to be made on fertiliser and lime requirements and we have seen the demand for standard soil testing increase year on year. However, as farmers and their agronomists and advisers adopt and adapt to precision

farming techniques, they are keener than ever to learn more about their soils, including the impact of trace elements such as boron and manganese on major nutrient uptake as well as physical characteristics such as texture, water holding capacity and compaction.

“Here in Swaffham we now have a laboratory focussed exclusively on soils,

fully equipped to deliver comprehensive specialist soil testing packages for customers throughout East Anglia and across many other parts of the UK.”

The investment required to establish this new facility and achieve full accreditation is a further example of NRM’s commitment to provide a high quality testing service for farmers in the UK and Ireland.

Grain testing expertiseWhen it comes to grain testing expertise Paul Allison is your man. As Sciantec’s Compliance Manager, and with 25 years’ experience, he now looks after two internationally important grain proficiency testing schemes.

These are the UK NIR Grain Network Ring Check Exercise and the Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA) Analysts Scheme. Both are important for international trade.

The UK NIR Grain Network scheme allows the UK grain industry (farmers, traders, maltsters, and millers) to have confidence in the accuracy of the results of their grain testing equipment. The result is that buyers and sellers of grain know that their testing instruments give the same results for the same samples. The work involves ‘blind testing’ the performance of equipment and working with NIR equipment manufacturers to provide data to help them improve equipment calibrations.

The GAFTA scheme exists to assess the ability of the GAFTA analysts around the world to provide accurate and reliable analytical data. Repeated failure to provide acceptable data can result in analysts being removed from the GAFTA approved list. Again, ‘blind testing’ provides an independent verification of accuracy in analysis.

Both schemes involve specially prepared samples of a suitable type being sent to participating laboratories for designated analysis. Each laboratory can then compare their own results against those of the other laboratories within the group and also against the assigned value for each analyte tested. Sciantec has run the GAFTA scheme since 2005 and the UK NIR Grain scheme since 2006. Both have grown over that period. The UK scheme now has 185 members (110 in 2006) and the GAFTA scheme now has 240 members in 43 countries (101 members in 28 countries in 2005).

Doing the actual grain testing has been a staple of the Sciantec business for many years. All key tests are conducted for wheat, barley and oilseed rape and all, generally, to a turnaround time of 24 hours.

Interest in mycotoxin tests growsSciantec is reporting a heightened interest in mycotoxin testing among customers in the feed manufacturing and supply sector, the milling industry and amongst nutritional and veterinary advisers.

The company is well-equipped to meet this demand performing both ELISA and the reference testing method HPLC, and is fully accredited for all the popular mycotoxin tests.

“We have an intimate knowledge of feed and the materials that are used in feed manufacture, analytical methods that are developed and validated to reflect the needs of current legislation and rigorous quality control procedures,” explains Sciantec’s Steve Fisher.

“We are therefore well positioned to offer rapid analysis in times of crisis to verify whether a feed material is a legal failure.”

The Swaffham team with Sir Ben Gill at the opening. Left to right: Bruno Silva, Adam Longmire, Bruna Faustino, Sir Ben Gill, Annie Sneath and Rob Thurley

from page 1...

Soil analysis vital part of sustainable farming Critically, academics agree that the inevitable time lags in the demand and supply dynamics of the food system mean we will need an overall increase in production. The latest Government initiatives give us some real opportunities for a better match between the scientific research and what farmers practically need to put it into practice.

Soil health is a key factor in achieving sustainable intensification. It features heavily in the ‘Feeding the Future’ report published by the NFU and other industry partners (AHDB, AIC and RASE) last year.

Soil provides a reservoir of nutrients required by crops and facilitates a range of ecosystem services, including nutrient recycling, water management and biodiversity support. Successful management of soil is vital in order to prevent erosion, compaction, run off and nutrient leaching. The recently published Global Food Security programme ‘Insight’, The Importance of Soils for Ensuring Food Security, stated that UK soils are worth £5.3 billion.

In reality, there is natural variability across farmland. This is where the technical advances in precision agriculture and engineering combined with more informed on-farm decision-making can make a significant contribution to protecting and boosting this critical agricultural resource. For example, mapping, both spatial and temporal, allows more informed decision making to target costly nutrients and plant protection products precisely or to steer farm machinery within a centimetre thus optimising travel, minimising compaction and boosting yields at the same time.

Sci-Tech Laboratories becomes part of the Cawood Scientific Group

Sci-Tech Laboratories became part of the Cawood Scientific Group on 10 December 2013. This Shropshire-based business is particularly well-known for its fast, efficient and accurate testing service for the UK poultry sector.

The inclusion of Sci-Tech in the Group adds an extra dimension to what is already the UK’s largest independent, one-stop shop for analytical testing services.

Commenting on the decision to join the Group, Sci-Tech Director, Rob Harrison, said: “The ethos of Sci-Tech is very similar to Cawood’s. Both are very quality driven and very customer focused. We both understand that good service in the analytical sector is as much about accuracy as it is about speed of delivery.”

Group Managing Director Nigel Patrick added: “The purchase of Sci-Tech is in line with our strategy to grow the business by searching out like-minded operations where the emphasis is on both quality of customer service and accuracy of testing results. Sci-Tech is very highly regarded within its specialist field of operation making it an excellent fit with the other Cawood Scientific businesses.”

Business as usual

Rob Harrison, who will continue to be involved in the management of the Sci-Tech business, was also keen to point out that it will be business as usual for the foreseeable future. He said: “I must emphasise that as far as the day-to-day operations are concerned there will be no change. The laboratory in Craven Arms will continue to operate as normal with the same people and the same degree of customer service. Going forward, being part of a bigger group will allow us to offer customers a wider range of services.”

Rob Harrison

Location and capabilitySci-Tech operates from a dedicated laboratory based in Craven Arms, Shropshire. It employs 22 people, provides an independent, fully accredited and fast scientific, technical service, and takes pride in its close and confidential customer relationships.

Sci-Tech’s focus is predominantly in the UK poultry sector with additional business in microbiological water testing and porcine serology.

NRM has the analytical capability to assess, quantify, evaluate and appraise all aspects of water, soil, manures, fertilisers and plant tissue as well as the inputs and outputs associated with plant growth.

This, combined with expertise in land-based environmental services such as composted waste, anaerobic digestate, effluents and industrial renewables, makes NRM the UK’s foremost independent and internationally accredited analytical laboratory for the land-based and related market sectors.

NRM has over 40 years’ experience and is based near Bracknell, Berkshire with specialist soil testing facilities in East Anglia. It operates throughout the UK and Europe. The company’s extensive capability includes 500 different analytical suites covering physical, chemical, spectroscopic and microbiological analysis.

Sciantec has the analytical capability to assess, quantify, evaluate and appraise the raw materials for animal feedstuffs, finished feeds, pharmaceutical compounds, pre-mixes, forages, combinable grains and pulses. Animal nutrition activities include feeds for all agricultural livestock, companion animals, the equine sector and aquaculture.

Operating from purpose-built premises in Cawood, North Yorkshire, the company has over 30 years experience in testing animal feeds and forages (although its origins as a specialist animal nutrition laboratory go back to the 1900s).

Today, the laboratory uses a combination of extensive wet chemistry along with NIR technology which is supported by on-going validation. Sciantec also provides specialist grain testing and has a microbiology facility approved by DEFRA for the testing of animal by-products.

All the companies in the Cawood Scientific Group are dedicated to the delivery of sound science to help customers manage their businesses effectively and profitably.

Activities include:

• A full microbiological testing service, including salmonella investigation under DEFRA statutory instruments, Animal Bi-Products Orders and the Poultry Health Scheme.

• Full serological testing including Mycoplasma and Salmonella Rapid Plate Testing as specified under the Poultry Health Scheme.

• Routine hatchery, factory and hygiene monitors, including design and implementation of audit/testing schedules to satisfy all industry codes.

• Accredited testing for mineral and potable water samples.

• Disinfectant testing, advice and cleaning programmes.

• Animal Foodstuffs testing, to comply with Animal By-Products 2005 legislation and Codes of Practice for the control of Salmonella in foodstuffs.

• Environmental testing of mills, plant and vehicles.

In addition, just about any microbiological examination can be arranged for any sample type. On-site consultations and technical services such as sample collection are also offered.

The business:

• Holds United Kingdom Accreditation Service, (UKAS) accreditation to the international laboratory standard ISO/IEC 17025 for microbiological testing of a wide range of sample types

• Is licensed with DEFRA under the Animal By-Products Orders for Salmonella and Enterobacteria examinations, under the Poultry Health Scheme for Mycoplasma and Salmonella Rapid Plate Testing and to test under all National Control Plan Poultry Orders.

Long historyThe origins of the laboratory at Craven Arms go back to the 1960s and to the Shropshire-based JP Wood (Poultry).

This business is famously credited with turning chicken from a luxury into an everyday, affordable item through the giant poultry production company Chukie Chicken.

In 1992, following the relocation of JP Poultry from the Craven Arms site, the Sci-Tech Laboratories company was established as an independent business.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) has been monitoring the nutritional composition of the different bamboo species fed to Tian Tian and Yang Guang since their arrival in December 2011. This analysis for proximate components of protein, ash and fibre in addition to ADF, NDF and ADL is carried out in the RZSS’s Edinburgh lab by the resident Nutritionist Andy Beer using Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy. This analysis uses predictive equations derived from reference values determined by wet chemistry conducted by Sciantec.

Recently, the contents of silica and total

tannins have been added to the suite of analytes as potential indicators of appetite. (again following work done by Sciantec).

As part of the programme of routine analysis of bamboo, the need to analyse it for vitamin D3, vitamin E and calcium became apparent. As reliable data on these parameters has not been carried out systematically in zoos across the world, RZSS once more turned to Sciantec to generate this data and in doing so, the Zoo hopes to achieve a greater understanding of the nutritional intake of these dietary components from their Pandas’ daily diet of bamboo over time.

Sciantec helps Giant Pandas

Web portal well received by customersSciantec’s new web portal, which was launched in March 2013, has attracted plenty of interest from customers with the numbers signing up growing almost daily, says General Manager Steve Fisher.

“Increasingly our customers want to take ‘raw data’ electronically as each test is approved rather than wait for the complete analysis.

As some tests take longer than others, this has a real benefit as customers can take action to correct their production processes as soon as they receive analysis such as Moisture, Oil and Protein compared to waiting for the full suite to be completed. Fibre fractions, medicines and toxins for example would normally delay the approval and distribution of the Certificate of Analysis (CoA). We still carry out the same ‘approval’ of the CoA but these customers have access to each test as it is approved.”

The system also allows data to be exported to spreadsheets for easy manipulation and the portal always holds a copy of the CoA for future reference and, of course, it’s available 24/7, 365 days a year.

“We’ve recently added an enhanced method of searching for samples and results,” adds Steve. “And we’re keen to hear from users on how they feel the portal should be developed.”

Sister company, NRM is in the final stages of developing web portal access.

“We’re genuinely excited about the imminent

launch,” says NRM’s Dr Rebecca Wilkinson.

“Customers will be able to get information

about their samples at anytime that is

convenient to them.

They will be able to check that samples have

arrived and change details such as cropping

and soil type as well as add information

on yields. Data will also be exportable

into both the Cropwalker and Gatekeeper

programmes,” she adds.

AD services expandingNRM’s analytical services for the Anaerobic Digestion (AD) sector have been increasing fast, making AD one of the company’s largest growth areas.

The tests cover the full analytical requirements for AD plant operators, technology suppliers, consultants and land spreading companies. These can be used to assess, monitor and troubleshoot any

part of the AD process from feedstock to digestion tanks to residual digestate product as well as for certification of plants (PAS 110 & ABPR certification).

NRM’s Duncan Rose explains: “We keep a constant look out for new tests that might help this developing sector. Recently, we have fine tuned our methodologies specifically for typical digestate and feedstock material. Our next development will be to offer a Bio-Methane Potential (BMP) test for feedstock material to meet the high demand we are beginning to see for this test.”

Edinburgh Zoo Pandas

Sciantec Analytical Services is playing its part in ensuring that Edinburgh Zoo’s resident Giant Pandas, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, get all the vitamins they need. Fingers are crossed that this may even help them reproduce successfully in 2014.

Sciantec Analytical, NRM Laboratories and Sci-Tech Laboratories are divisions of Cawood Scientific Ltd

Sciantec Analytical Stockbridge Technology Centre,

Cawood, North Yorkshire YO8 3SDTel: 01757 242 400 Fax: 01757 242 401

www.sciantec.uk.com

NRM Laboratories Coopers Bridge, Braziers Lane, Bracknell, Berkshire RG42 6NS

Tel: 01344 886 338 Fax: 01344 890 972 www.nrm.uk.com

Sci-Tech Laboratories The Grove, Craven Arms,

Shropshire SY7 8DATel: 01588 672 600 Fax: 01588 672 880

www.scitech-labs.uk.com