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Nebraska ' s Agricultural Laboratories shares space with other Nebraska state laboratories

by Nancy Maddox, MPH, writer

A residue laboratory chemist prepares the ICP-MS system to analyze food samples for toxic metals

In fact, Nebraska— in the middle of the Midwest— is prototypical US farm country. Plains and prairieland stretch as far as the eye can see; the Ogallala aquifer sits beneath a blanket of rich loess soil, and nearly 24,00 miles of rivers and streams interlace the landscape.

In 2017, the Agricultural Laboratories will celebrate 50 years of service to the people of Nebraska.

Overall, farms and ranches occupy 92 % of Nebraska’ s 77,000 square miles of land area and contribute $ 25 billion to the state economy, catapulting the Cornhusker State to the fourth spot in total US agricultural receipts. The industry supports one of every four Nebraskan jobs.

As its nickname implies, corn is one of Nebraska ' s largest crops. The state ranks third in production of other corns, mostly intended for livestock feed, high-fructose corn syrup or ethanol. Other important crops are soybeans, wheat, hay, dry edible beans and potatoes.

Yet Nebraska’ s ranches rival its farms in terms of production. Nebraska produces more commercial red meat— over seven billion pounds— and exports more beef and veal than any other state. It ranks first among states in the number of cattle on feed, second in cattle and calf production and sixth in the number of hogs and pigs on farms. Of note, the roughly 6.5 million cattle and calves on feed in Nebraska outnumber human residents by over three to one. About half of Nebraska’ s 49,100 farms have livestock or poultry operations.

Lincoln, Nebraska’ s capital, sits in the southeast corner of the state. With just under 300,000 people, it is the second most populous city in Nebraska, after Omaha.

However, Sally Flowers, PhD, administrator of Nebraska’ s Agricultural Laboratories, notes that when the Cornhuskers host home games at the

University of Nebraska’ s Memorial Stadium, the stadium becomes the state’ s third most populous“ jurisdiction,” at least temporarily.

Facility

The basement of the state capitol was the first home of Nebraska’ s Agricultural Laboratories. In 1973, the agency relocated to a newly constructed building where it remains today. The Agricultural Laboratories take up half of a two-story, brick edifice, sitting“ side-by-side” with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Public Health Environmental Laboratory. The building is surrounded by native and ornamental plants and located about two miles south of downtown Lincoln and, fittingly, less than a mile from prime farmland, where neatly spaced rows of golden-haired corn light up the summer landscape.

Laboratory Leadership

Director Sally Flowers, PhD was born to a Navy family in Honolulu, HI. She grew up, however, almost 5,000 miles away in Florida, where she discovered a love for agriculture. Flowers raised steers—“ heavily marbled and rather delicious”— on her dad’ s hobby farm and judged livestock and meats in 4-H. After growing up alongside pot-bellied pigs and other farm animals, she left home to study food science, earning four credentials along the way: a BS in animal science( University of Florida-Gainesville), a PhD in food science( Penn State), a two-year post-doctoral fellowship focused on food microbiology( Mississippi State University) and a BS in clinical laboratory science( University of Nebraska Medical Center). Before accepting her current post in September 2016, she directed operations for AEGIS Food Testing Laboratory( now Vanguard Sciences)— where she helped the laboratory achieve ISO 17025 accreditation— oversaw quality control( QC) for a veterinary vaccine manufacturer and did ELISA method development for another livestock vaccine manufacturer.

Tai Ha, supervisor of the Feed, Fertilizer and Agricultural Lime Laboratory( FFAL), began his career as a research chemist / project leader for the National Center for Scientific Research in Vietnam. He served as quality assurance( QA)/ quality control( QC) laboratory analyst for Iowa Beef Packers in Lexington, NE after moving to the US. Ha accepted a chemist position at FFAL in 2000 and was gradually promoted upward to his current position, where he also oversees QA. Ha specializes in real-time PCR for prohibited materials in