State agriculture officials say new leadership, more money and increased scrutiny has improved the accuracy of heavy capacity scales.

The scales are used to weigh millions of dollars of goods every year in Kansas, including truckloads of scrap metal, recyclables and agricultural products.

In early 2013, state inspectors approved just 26 percent of the large scales they tested.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports almost 50 percent of the scales tested did not weigh accurately enough and others did not meet state specifications.

In the first half of fiscal year 2014, inspectors approved 45 percent of the scales they checked and only 27 percent were found to not be weighing accurately enough.

Kansas Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chad Bontrager noted the improvement but says he wants the progress to continue.