Agility to move with the times The success story that is Hill Laboratories began with Dr Roger Hill and his belief that an independent, private laboratory could deliver on quality and service — with the freedom to be agile when opportunity presented. Roger had seen a need for a private laboratory to offer soil testing services that up until then had largely been carried out by government owned laboratories. What started as a small family business in 1984 has evolved into a large business employing 400 full time staff, which almost doubles with seasonal workers in late summer for kiwifruit sample collection and testing just prior to harvest. Despite its size, staff say the company still has that “familyfeel” to it. The exciting journey into new customer segments is ongoing and the strong company values around people, innovation, honesty and integrity underpin this success story. Now led by Roger’s son Jonno Hill as CEO, the laboratory services have evolved extensively and now cover a broad range of environmental, agricultural, food and bioanalytical testing. Most recently, in response to the national need in 2019, the laboratory set up testing services for Covid-19 as molecular biology and PCR testing was already an area of expertise. Hill’s main laboratory and head office is located in Hamilton, in a large state-of-the art laboratory and office space in industrial Frankton. Other sites include Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, Blenheim and Tauranga, where testing services are somewhat dedicated to particular industry segments. Tauranga, for example, is a bespoke site for kiwifruit maturity testing whereas Auckland and Wellington only carry out asbestos testing. Having access to a laboratory branch in different regions is particularly beneficial to customers for time-sensitive testing, such as food and water microbiology. Fiona Calvert, Market Sector Manager – Agriculture, says that over the last decade, a focus on sustainability has been a core driver of all primary industries, and laboratory measurement plays a big part in achieving this. “For farmers and growers, soil health is the key to sustainable production and also plays an integral part in water quality improvement. Soil health is all about a continued capacity to sustain plant, animal and human ecosytems. It’s a dynamic quality that can be affected by land-use, management practices and climactic effects. A healthy soil will have good tilth, extensive rooting, optimal pH, sufficient nutrients and be free of contaminants.” Recently Hill Laboratories created a Soil Health package of tests, as an easy way to gather the important measures of soil fertility and soil carbon and nitrogen for ongoing monitoring. The Hot Water Extractable Carbon test in this package has also been shown by New Zealand scientists to be correlated with microbial biomass. As well, a new project is underway to study whether earthworm abundance can be assessed using eDNA testing of soils — as earthworm presence is considered a strong indicator of healthy soil. Fiona says monitoring change using the key soil health measures offered, will help guide decisions on nutrient application and other land-management practices that will help build soil organic matter. “Retaining or building soil organic matter is very important for water and nutrient retention, as well as helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” RICHARD LOADER Name: Hill Laboratories City/Town: Hamilton Phone: 027 226 5509 Email: fiona.calvert@hill-labs.co.nz TEST ING FROM THE GROUND UP Get the whole picture and make better decisions
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