Soil Testing

Soil and Organic Certification Tests

Using the latest technology, Hill Labs offers a complete range of soil tests for evaluating fertility and soil health, as well as tests to meet organic certification requirements.

Hill Labs soil testing services allow measurement of the nutrient status of soil for a whole range of land-use purposes. Understanding the soil nutrient status is important regardless of whether you are a large-scale farming or horticultural operator, recreational turf or garden manager, or small lifestyle block owner. Our soil tests enable you to make sound management decisions for sustainable land use. We also have tests that are required to meet organic certification, as well as environmental soil tests to assess potential contamination.

Agricultural and Horticultural Soil

Agricultural and horticultural soils are tested to measure the soil fertility and soil quality for monitoring fertiliser programmes and to assist with identifying nutrient deficiency or toxicity.

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Organic Farming

Like routine farm systems, organically farmed soils are tested to measure the soil quality & nutrient levels and can also be tested for contaminants.

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Contaminated Soil

Soil may become contaminated with a wide variety of chemicals, e.g. hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and pesticide residues to name a few.

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Earthworm eDNA in Soil

Earthworms are a crucial component of soil biology, and abundant earthworm populations are recognised as an indicator of healthy soil. Our new Earthworm eDNA test contributes to building a holistic understanding of your soil’s health.

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Helpful links

Our team of testing experts has meticulously crafted these documents to offer recommendations tailored to your testing requirements.

Latest Stories

Announcement: Hill Labs Broadens Food and Water Services with Acquisitions

We are pleased to announce that at the end of this month, a series of acquisitions will take place on the same day. Firstly, a new company jointly owned by Hill Labs and Sam Brooks will acquire the Canterbury-based sister companies ‘Food and Health Standards’ (FHS) and ‘Auditing Solutions’ (AS) from Ian and Gail Shaw. FHS and AS provide Environmental Health Officer services, food safety auditing services, and municipal water sample collection services to a range of customers within and beyond Canterbury. Secondly, the water operations within FHS, led by Lisa Shaw, will be carved out and moved into Hill Labs, while maintaining a close relationship with FHS.

17 Feb 2025

Hill News February 2025 - Update From Our MD, Dr Jonno Hill

This, our first Hill News for 2025, has a couple of headline articles that I want to highlight. The first relates to a series of acquisitions that will be completed essentially simultaneously at the end of this month. There is some complexity in the deals that we are doing, but essentially there will be two main outcomes – increased capability within Hill Labs, and a partnership we will be entering into via a separate company.

13 Feb 2025

Reflections from the NZSSS Conference

The New Zealand Soil Science Society conference was held in Rotorua in December 2024 and Erin McIlmurray, our Market Sector Manager - Agriculture, attended for the first time. She took away some new learnings and discovered some valuable insights.

13 Feb 2025

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