Happy New Year wishes to all!
Here is something to ponder as we embark on the year 2025:
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” — Albert Einstein
Hand Seed Treatment Price Increase
The Quality Lab will be increasing the price for “by hand” seed treatment from $6.00 to $10.00. This pricing will go into effect after January 15th and better reflects the cost of materials and labor for this service.
Monthly Billing Date Change
As of January 1, billing for the Seed Lab will be completed on the 15th of every month. If the 15th falls on a Saturday, we will bill on Friday, if it falls on a Sunday, we will bill the following Monday. Invoices are sent through email whenever possible. Statements are issued after the 1st of the month by the University and are sent by US mail.
Seed Health PCR Lab Update
We just passed some of the busiest months on the Seed Health PCR lab calendar and decided to check on turnaround times for PCR-based tests.
Once a sample was received by our front office, PCR results were reported, on average, in under 5 days. Looking more closely at time in the lab, once a sample was divided, processed, and purified, test results were typically reported in less than 2.5 days. Since the beginning of the fiscal year (July-2024), the longest sample turnaround was 14 days, including weekends. Fewer than 20 samples fell into the 8-14 day window, all of which required significant additional testing to get completed results. So far this fiscal year fewer than 0.5% of tests took longer than 8 days.
What has changed? Priority was given to speeding up sample processing time. In years past, to save on reagent costs, sample purifications were delayed to maximize the number of samples in each purification run. We have the same staff and similar throughput as in recent years but we start purifications sooner resulting in, so far, at least a six day reduction in average turnaround time.
