First, let’s update the drought monitor. As of Tuesday only small parts of the state were rated as abnormally dry, even with the heat of the previous week and not counting any precipitation over the last five days. Now, why discuss today’s topic? Sound kind of dull doesn’t it? Believe it or not the science of weighing and measuring, metrology, is vital in all aspects of your life and no more so than in the area of agriculture. Barton Community College is working with the Kansas Department of Agriculture providing continuing education and testing for the scale companies and technicians who certify the accuracy of the scales used in commercial settings.
The purpose of this and next week’s column isn’t to provide excruciating detail but a brief overview of weights and measures in the production of food fiber, and fuel and what is done to help insure accuracy. Everything in agriculture, well almost everything, is sold by weight or volume. Kansas produced a 400 million bushel wheat crop. While a bushel is a volume, what it really means is 400,000,000 times 60 pounds. Crops and livestock are sold by weight so the accuracy of the truck, livestock, floor, or bench scale is critical to both the buyer and seller. Using 400 million bushels, if the weight is off just one percent that amounts to 4,000,000 bushels. At $3 per bushel that amounts to 1.2 million dollars. This applies to the inputs producers buy. They must be accurately measured. When you purchase a package of meat or cheese at the deli counter or that box of cereal, everything is sold by weight. Take a moment and try to think of everywhere you have seen a scale. There are thousands in Kansas alone.
When items are sold by weight, any transaction where buying or selling is involved, these are defined as commercial weighing and measuring devices. Commercial devices are covered under Kansas Law and Statute. The KDA (Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Weights and Measures) is responsible for regulating the use and accuracy of commercial measuring devices. So what is done by Kansas to insure accuracy and prevent fraud?
• All scales manufactured after 1986 must have a Certificate of Conformance (CoC) describing the class of scale and various other attributes. Older scales may be and are in use following prescribed procedures. Each scale must be uniquely identifiable with a unique serial number. You might think this is no big deal but with the internet, many cheaper scales have no CoC and can’t be used commercially.
• Scales are to be selected, used, maintained, and certified yearly using two documents developed by NIST, the National Institute of Standards, Handbooks 44 and 112. Kansas and all 50 states voluntarily adopt all or parts of these documents. Handbook 44 provides all the requirements for weighing and measuring devices and is reviewed and updated yearly. Handbook 112 outlines the procedures for certifying weighing and measuring devices.
• Kansas lack the manpower to check commercial scales, which at a minimum must be certified once every 365 days. To have certifications done in a timely manner, in the 1980s the legislature passed legislation providing for scale companies and their technicians to obtain licensing from the state to serve, for a fee, as an agent for the state to certify scales.
Next week – what is done and what you as a consumer should look for.