AGRICULTURAL
Contemporary soil testing involves collecting "representative" soil samples in the field and delivering them to the laboratory. The samples must be received quickly by the laboratory (or be refrigerated to minimize changes in nutrient status). At the laboratory, they are dried and pulverized. Both of these processes have been shown to alter nutrient status. After thorough mixing, small sub-samples are weighed or measured and extracted with a selected mixture of chemicals. Different extracting solutions are required for specific nutrients and for different kinds of soils, so as many as six separate extractions may be necessary on a given sample to obtain a complete nutrient test.
Nutrient quantities extracted from the sample provide an index of nutrient availability. By themselves, these indices are not useful; but they can be compared against calibrated results of field experiments conducted using a variety of fertilizer application rates and combinations. This "contemporary" approach provides results that are not directly related to factors controlling nutrient availability.
Results can be quite useful if field experiments continue to accompany laboratory research to develop new chemical extracting solutions. Field research has been drastically curtailed, however, during the past few decades, even though farming practices have greatly changed and many new chemical extracts have been introduced. Statistical correlation among laboratory results from "old" extracts and those from "new" extracts have been used to validate a wide array of methods. Several dozen different extracting solutions are currently used by U.S. soil testing laboratories. These problems are inherent in chemical extraction based soil testing and prevent the development of a single standard soil testing method. This has led to poor credibility and limited acceptance by agricultural users, but it continues as the "only show in town."
Despite the poor credibility and limited acceptance, approximately 3.5 million soil samples are taken annually. The demand for improved accuracy and cost-effective soil testing continues to grow as agriculturists attempt to increase crop yields and quality. UIC's improved processes place them in a unique position to exceed present customer's expectations and therefore meet the demand of those who desire higher credibility. UIC has developed a "standard" worldwide testing method that is being made available to the agricultural community.   Distribution in the Agricultural Market Typically the fertilizer distributors send representatives to assist farmers in determining their fields' fertilizer and chemical needs and make product recommendations. Large corporate farmers are often very reliant upon the distributors' expertise and product knowledge. The WSU marketing study noted that 60% of U.S. agricultural production is made by 3% of the growers -- large corporate farmers. UIC will aggressively advertise the streamlining effects and profitability potentials to sampling laboratories, which may show initial reluctance to changing processes and possibly existing equipment. UIC will assist laboratory personnel to ensure their understanding of the new technology. This is critical; as it provides two avenues for the UIC product to ultimately become the industry standard. Farmers who use soil and petiole sampling are already accustomed to using more than one data point to improve confidence in the sampling analysis results. Farmers will "walk the fields" to visually observe crop health. Soil sampling is completed annually, seasonally, or weekly depending upon the farmer's needs. Petiole sampling, taking samples from the leaves and stems of the plants themselves, is often used in conjunction with soil sampling in order to improve confidence in the test results. UIC's bioavailability capsule will be offered as an improved alternative to provide the confidence that farmers seek. The UIC resin capsule appears to meet agricultural customers concerns identified in the WSU marketing study. The study cited that the main customer concern was "receiving proven accurate data in the form of crop specific correlation tables". Over the last several years, UIC has developed crop specific correlation tables. An overwhelming 75% of the 20 agriculturists interviewed by WSU indicated an interest in knowing more about the UIC technology. According to the WSU marketing study, confidence in the soil testing accuracy was the potential customer's highest priority. UIC is creating a wealth of research and development information resulting from agricultural grants received by Washington State University. Included in this grant is the development of a crop specific database, unavailable until now, that will assist farmers to interpret the testing results against individual crop needs.