While winter brings shorter days and quieter activity to those of us down south, cropping and horticultural areas further north are facing a different set of pressures, with limited supplies of base fertilisers and substantially higher fuel and input costs.
With costs continuing to rise, a timely soil nutrient test is one of the simplest ways to understand exactly what your soil needs. No one wants to spend more than necessary on fertiliser, so why risk applying products that might not be needed? There may also be more nutrients left behind from previous crops than expected, making guesswork both difficult and expensive.
We offer a range of soil testing options that give you accurate, timely results to help you make informed decisions about nutrient requirements and target your inputs where they’ll have the greatest benefit.
What’s inside this edition?
- One thing that’s not going up in price
- NEW: Total Nitrogen analysis for plant sap
- Introducing the NU88 report
- Why so many clients are switching to our online portal
- Australia Post update and what it means for your samples
One thing that’s not going up in price
Costs across agricultural inputs and supplies continue to rise, and laboratory operations are no exception.
The good news is that AgVita Analytical won’t be increasing prices for the 2026–27 financial year. Thanks to efficiencies we’ve built into our lab over the past few years, we’ve been able to absorb those increased costs and keep our prices at 2025 levels. We’re proud to continue supporting Australian agriculture in such a practical way.
If you’d like an up-to-date product and price list, please contact our team. As always, if you have any questions, we’re here to help.
NEW: Total Nitrogen analysis for plant sap
Available as an add-on to our NU-8 and NU88 tests, this new analysis is already proving popular and, in many cases, is providing the missing piece needed for differential sap analysis interpretation.
What’s more, the Total Nitrogen (TN) result is included in the same report as your regular sap analysis, or as part of our new NU88 differential sap report (see below), with our same-day turnaround times unchanged. This gives you the ability to accurately compare nitrate and ammonium concentrations against the TN value from the same sample.
We use a furnace method to combust and measure all forms of nitrogen in extracted plant sap, with results reported in mg/L of N in sap (equivalent to ppm).
Please note that adding TN analysis to the NU-8 or NU88 tests will require a larger sample volume. If you have any questions, please get in touch for more information.
Introducing the NU88 report
We’ve revamped our standard NU-Test report to make it easier to interpret results from our differential (old leaf vs. new leaf) analyses, known as the NU88.
Available alongside our new Total Nitrogen analysis (see above), this test combination provides the same high standard of information available from leading laboratories around the world, without the 3–week delay that comes with sending samples overseas. The new NU88 report clearly shows the differences between paired samples across the full range of analytes, while retaining all the functionality of our standard NU-Test report.
If you’d like to see an example of the NU88 report, please contact us anytime.
Why so many clients are switching to our online portal
Our online portal has already become a favourite with clients, making it quick and easy to log samples directly into our system without the hassle of paper submission forms.
If you’re using the portal for the first time, we’re happy to walk you through it with a short 5–10 minute Zoom or Teams session. Most people are confidently submitting samples in just a few minutes. To book a time, please get in touch with our friendly team.
Australia Post update and what it means for your samples
Australia Post has announced that, from Tuesday 4 August, providing recipient contact details will become mandatory for most parcel delivery services, including Parcel Post, Express Post, Metro, and On Demand, for eParcel Contract merchants and MyPost Business customers.
Regardless of whether these new Australia Post requirements apply to your parcels, all samples sent to AgVita Analytical must already include recipient contact details to meet Biosecurity Tasmania requirements.
If you’re already including these details, there’s nothing you need to change. If not, please ensure they’re included with all future sample deliveries.
You can read the full details about the Australia Post changes in this email.