Missouri Soil Testing Association
accreditation program
The Missouri Soil Testing Association Accreditation Program (MSTA) is designed
to assure that results provided by participating public and private labs serving
the citizens of Missouri agree with allowable statistical limits. Based on this
premise, soil test results from MSTA approved labs will be accepted by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and Farm Service Agency (FSA).
Beginning in 1999, MSTA combined its efforts with the North American Proficiency
Testing Program (NAPT). The NAPT coordinator sends soil test data from the labs
participating in MSTA program to the state coordinator.
The MU Soil Testing Lab director serves as the state program coordinator and
performs statistical analysis of the data as specified in the MSTA program. If
a lab's results fall within the allowable limits, the lab will be placed on the
Farm Service Agency's (FSA) list of approved labs. A lab that is not accredited
may re-apply after six months.
Approval procedures for MSTA labs
The labs that wish to participate in the MSTA program should send a formal
written request to the director of the University of Missouri Soil Testing Laboratory.
They also need to request the NAPT coordinator to send results to the MSTA program
coordinator.
Participating labs must use procedures of the Missouri Soil Testing
Program in current use as described in the University of Missouri Extension
Guide #923 (August, 1983) entitled, "Soil Testing in Missouri".
The lab will be approved for routine soil tests:
- Bray-I P; ammonium acetate extractable K, Ca, and Mg;
- Organic matter
- pH in 0.01 M CaCl2
- Neutralizable acidity (using the Woodruff Buffer test).
Standard pH 7.0 and pH 4.0 buffers must be used to calibrate all pH meters.
It is suggested each laboratory set up two or more internal check samples.
One of these checks should be included with each twenty or thirty soil samples.
A log of the results of the check samples should be maintained.
The MSTA coordinator will receive results from the NAPT program coordinator
on the recommended tests and do the statistical evaluation.
Approval criteria for MSTA labs
The MSTA program uses the median and median absolute deviation (MAD) as used by the NAPT program as robust estimations of central values and variances of all data sets. This statistical approach is less sensitive to influence of extreme values (outliers) than the mean and standard deviation. The MSTA summary report lists the median and MAD values and the lab data. If the lab's data falls outside the range of +2.5x MAD (it is marked as Low or High) and considered to be out of the allowable limit. If the lab data falls outside the limits of +3.5x MAD they are marked as outliers.
Test results of 75 percent of the samples must fall within the above allowable limits for each test. Upon meeting these criteria a letter will be sent to FSA to add the requesting lab to the list of approved labs in Missouri.
If the lab fails the lab director may discuss with the MU Soil Testing Lab director ways to solve problems at the expense of the requesting lab.
Missouri state approved labs
(Updated March 31, 2009)
- Custom Lab
204 C St.
Golden City, MO 64748
Telephone: 417-537-8337
Fax: 417-537-8337
- Delta Soil Testing Lab
University of Missouri
PO Box 160
Portageville, MO 63873
Telephone: 573-379-5431
Fax: 573-379-3383
- MU Soil and Plant Testing Lab
University of Missouri
23 Mumford Hall
Columbia, MO 65211
Telephone: 573-882-3250
Fax: 573-884-4288
- Perry Agricultural Lab
PO Box 418
State Highway 54 East
Bowling Green, MO 63334
Telephone: 573-324-2931
Fax: 573-324-5558
Georgia
- Waters Agricultural Laboratories, Inc.
257 Newton Highway
PO Box 382, Camilla, GA 31730
Telephone: 229-336-7216
Fax: 229-336-0977
Illinois
- Alvey Laboratory, Inc.
1511 East Main St.
PO Box 175
Belleville, IL 62222
Telephone: 618-233-0445
Fax: 618-233-7292
- Mowers Soil Testing Plus, Inc.
117 East Main St.
Toulon, IL 61483-0518
Telephone: 309-286-2761
Fax: 309-286-6251
Indiana
- A&L Great Lakes Laboratory, Inc.
3505 Conestoga Drive
Fort Wayne, IN 46808
Telephone: 260-483-4759
Fax: 260-483-5274
Iowa
- A&L Heartland Laboratory, Inc.
111 Linn St.
PO Box 455
Atlantic, IA 50022
Telephone: 901-213-2400
Fax: 901-213-2440
- AgSource Belmond Labs
1245 Highway 69 N
Belmond, IA 50421
Telephone: 641-444-3384
Fax: 641-444-4361
Kansas
- Servi-Tech Laboratories
1816 East Wyatt Earp Blvd.
Dodge City, KS 67801
Telephone: 620-227-7123
Fax: 620-227-2047
Kentucky
- Waters Agricultural Laboratories, Inc.
2101 Old Calhoun Road
Owensboro, KY 42301
Telephone: 270-685-4039
Fax: 270-685-3989
Nebraska
- Midwest Laboratories, Inc.
13611 B St.
Omaha, NE 68144-3693
Telephone: 402-334-7770
Fax: 402-334-9121
- Ward Laboratories
4007 Cherry Ave.
PO Box 788
Kearney, NE 68848
Telephone: 308-234-2418
Fax: 308-234-1940
Ohio
- Brookside Lab, Inc.
308 S. Main St.
New Knoxville, OH 45871
Telephone: 419-753-2448
Fax: 419-753-2949
- Spectrum Analytical
1087 Jamison Road
PO Box 639
Washington Court House, OH 43160
Telephone: 740-335-1562
Fax: 740-335-1104
Tenessee
- A&L Analytical Laboratories, Inc.
2790 Whitten Road
Memphis, TN 38133
Telephone: 901-213-2400
Fax: 901-213-2440
Wisconsin
- Ag Source Cooperative Services
106 N. Cecil Street
PO Box 788
Bonduel, WI 54107
Telephone: 715-758-2178
Fax: 715-758-2620
Canada
- A&L Canada Laboratories, Inc.
2136 Jetstream Road
London, ON N5V 3P5
Canada
Telephone: 519-457-2575
Fax: 519-457-2664
Updated 8/5/09