To the general observer, the production agriculture may seem like a simple and straight forward profession but there are far more complexities to running a successful operation than many people realize. Those in production agriculture face constant obstacles, challenges and difficulties thrown at production agriculture on a daily basis. One of the ways our producers face these challenges is through science. The Analytical Services Laboratory (ASL) at the Wyoming Department of Agriculture helps producers make several decisions based on scientific data.
ASL has testing programs that focus feed and forage, fertilizer, meat, dairy, pesticides, and water. Each of these programs helps provide agriculture producers with vital information for their business operations. Feed testing helps makes sure animal feed is in compliance with the label. Forage analysis assists ranchers, feeders, and hay producers in determining the nutrient value of various hays, silages, and forage products and can help assess animal health risk. The dairy and meat testing helps protect the industry by providing regulatory oversight and testing of these products. The fertilizer program assures these products meet standards or label guarantees. Pesticide testing is performed for food regulatory limits and environmental misapplication/drift cases. Finally, the water program provides testing state natural resource management programs, public water systems and private testing for citizens. Each of these programs provides valuable data or oversight that ultimately supports high quality production agriculture in Wyoming.
Sound scientific data helps producers know what they are feeding their animals, trust the fertilizer and pesticide products they are applying to their crops, and provides information for regulatory oversight that protects the industry. There are many challenges to running an agricultural operation in Wyoming but analytical science can help lessen some of those challenges each day.
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Wyoming Department of Agriculture
Northern Ag Network
