informatics in agriculture From farm to fork
The depth and quality of testing within agriculture is vital for ensuring food safety. Three experts share their views of how informatics aids the process
Michael O’Donnell, senior chemist/ICT manager at The State Laboratory, Ireland
sampling of animal feeds and fertilisers, etc., as required by the European Commission. Samples are sent to us and we then correlate the data and issue reports back. We do find that our clients sometimes have difficulties with an unsophisticated record system and will need us to repeat reports or summarise what they sent to us the previous year. It is vital, therefore, that our database is up to scratch so that we can retrieve that information as quickly and easily as possible. Our LabWare LIMS (laboratory information management system) has enabled us to do so. At the moment, our clients are unable to accept anything in a format other than PDF, but if that changes to XML, for example, we will easily be able to accommodate that request. Government departments are all under
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economic constraints which can influence practical things like the pressure placed on sampling officers. Add to that concerns over staffing levels and there was a danger that sampling rates might not be achieved. Our clients asked us to look at the processes, as samples were coming to us from three different areas, and in three distinct streams. We suggested that if they would accept minor changes in the way we reported results back
6 SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD
e provide a service to the Irish Department of Agriculture with regards to its obligation to carry out
to them, we would be able to accept the samples in one stream which would boost efficiency throughout the process. Tis was only achievable because we are able to manage everything within the LIMS. Tere are many options in the market and
selecting a LIMS is not always a straightforward process, however. Te best advice is to do the background research sooner rather than later.
THE FIRST STEP IS TO
ESTABLISH WHAT THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS ARE, RATHER THAN FOCUSING ON DETAIL
It seems like an obvious statement, but it isn’t always followed. Last month I spoke with people who had purchased a system through an agency and in order to update it they must put in a request which will take an unspecified amount of time to fulfil. To make matters worse, the LIMS doesn’t do that much for them in the first place! In order to avoid this situation, the first step
is to establish what the basic requirements are, rather than focusing on too much detail. Keep it simple and ensure that what’s being asked for is genuinely needed, rather than a whim or personal preference. Again, this seems
obvious but oſten, especially where flexible systems like the LabWare LIMS are concerned, people will demand that a system do things in a particular way for no reason other than that’s what they want it to do. Of course, it can be set up in that way, but it may not do things as well if it’s not the core way the system is designed to work. Over the years, it’s been very interesting to
look at the question of whether laboratories should adjust how they work to fit in with the technology or whether it should be the other way around. In the beginning, people had no choice but to alter their working habits as computing systems were completely inflexible. Ten, when computers developed the flexibility to mimic what people do, the situation changed to one of where it was inconceivable that users would adapt their practices to suit the technology. Now it’s turned full circle and people within the community are saying that the way you work without an informatics system should not be the way you work when the lab is computerised as it is failing to take advantage of the benefits.
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