Agrochemical Service Research Articles

Outsourcing agrochemical services: economic or strategic logic?

Although the different perspectives of outsourcing—strategic versus economic—are taken into account in this research, our main objective is not to analyze the main reasons underlying this logic or to explain the decision behind outsourcing different activities. Instead, we aim to carry out a thorough analysis of the relationship between the characteristics of different service activities in terms of complexity, from a development point of view and the amount of knowledge firms’ gain from it and the theoretical approach underlying the outsourcing process. In this article, we test this proposal by analyzing the decisions to outsource services in R&D activities in the agrochemical industry.

X‐ray fluorescence analysis in the Russian State Agrochemical Service: an overview

AbstractThe advantages of x‐ray spectrometry in the field of rapid non‐destructive multi‐element analysis of environmental samples have been well known since the 1950s. This was a reason to include this method in the system of analytical control of the Russian State Agrochemical Service (SAS) including regional centers and the Central Research Institute of Agrochemical Service (CINAO), and similar services all over the world. The SAS was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture of the former USSR more than 30 years ago in order to control the status of agricultural soils, quality of forage, plants, fertilizers and fertilizer management. In the previous stage (1980–90), x‐ray spectrometry used all‐vacuum simultaneous spectrometers for the quality control of forages all over the USSR in terms of macro and micro (trace) elemental composition. The program was terminated in the 1990s because of the high cost of operation, slow‐operating apparatus and changes in Russia. However, the new edition of the Agricultural Ministerial Handbook with the regional distribution of mineral nutrients in plants was created owing to the results obtained. Since 1991, more adaptable and inexpensive portable instruments became available and investigations were focused on novel agroecological tasks, e.g. soil pollution with heavy metals. The adaptable and rapid method of soil analysis was evaluated and tested in an interlaboratory study organized by CINAO with the participation of Standard Committee institutes. Relatively good agreement of participant results was demonstrated and information about different kinds of uncertainties in x‐ray fluorescence soil analysis with the use of portable instruments was obtained. This method became used as a standard of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation for the rapid analysis of soils to determine the total content of Fe, Zn, Mn, Ni, Sr, Cr and Pb in laboratory and field conditions. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Comparative Study of Two Computerized Spectrophotometers for the Near-Infrared Analysis of Wheat for Protein

Samples of hard red spring (HRS) wheat were compared on two computerized spectrophotometers of the same type, the Model 6350 Research Composition Analyzer. One of the instruments was located at the All Union Institute for Agrochemical Services, Moscow, U.S.S.R., the other at the Grain Research Laboratory, Winnipeg, Canada. Spectra, and analytical accuracy and precision, were compared on the two systems. While bands from the Moscow instrument appeared slightly sharper than its Winnipeg counterpart, log 1/ R signals from the two instruments were highly correlated for individual samples at all wavelengths studied, and absorption bands for individual samples occurred at essentially the same wavelengths. Several wavelengths selected for calibration were common to both instruments, and calibrations were developed on both, which enabled accurate analysis of HRS wheat for protein. Calibration constants differed for individual calibrations.