b"FIELD CROP DEVELOPMENT CENTREQuality MattersA career in advancing near-infrared technology has made field crop development more efficient.MOST GROWERS ARE familiar with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as a method of analyzing grain protein and moisture on-farm or at the elevator. Many researchers use the same technology to assess grain quality characteristics, but there's a difference in Lori Oatways labshe has taken it to the next level.Oatway, who works as a research scientist at the Field Crop Development Centre (FCDC) at Olds College, has spent most of her 30-year career developing NIRS so it can be used to screen a significant number of samples for a wide variety of quality characteristics.I run the cereal testing program, so my main job is to produce data on all of the new varieties coming out into the industry to support end uses, she says.Oatway got her start in plant science as a summer student at the research station in Lacombe, Alta. while she was studying at the University of Alberta. She became a full-time technician after graduation and has since worked her way up the ladder in the technical program, including obtaining a master of science degree in using NIRS to detect toxins in barley and wheat. Since the FCDC is home to breeding programs in malting barley, feed and forage barley and feed and forage triticale and grows over 36,000 plots per year, Oatways advancements in quality assessment efficiency have made a significant impact. Evaluating Quality Traditionally speaking, assessing quality has been done through wet chemistry analysis. To determine the malting quality of a barley sample, for example, the grain would be sent to a lab Lori Oatway is a research scientist at the Field Crop Development Centrewhere researchers would produce malt by germinating it, letting at Olds College.it grow sprouts and drying it. The malt would then be processed PHOTO: OLDS COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY and run through wet chemistry equipment.8seed.ab.ca"