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Farmfest nitrate screening helps farmers address water quality

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Farmfest Nitrate Screening

Tim Raddatz from the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Center (MAWRC) testing water for nitrates at last year’s Farmfest. Free nitrate screening through MAWRC will be back at this year’s Farmfest.

Bring your water samples from wells, ditches, streams or tile outlets to Farmfest for free nitrate screening, courtesy of the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resources Center (MAWRC).

The screening is completely confidential and takes about 20 minutes. You can drop off your sample at the MAWRC location inside of the AURI tent, check out Farmfest, then pick up your results anytime.

“There’s a lot of attention being paid to nitrates in groundwater and surface waters,” said Warren Formo, MAWRC executive director. “We want to make it easy for farmers to get a better idea about water conditions on their own farms.”

Collecting a sample for testing is simple:

  • To take a sample of well water, run your cold tap for 5-10 minutes and collect about 1 cup of water in a clean plastic or glass container. Freeze your sample and bring it in cool to the MAWRC booth. Samples taken and brought to Farmfest the same day do not need to be frozen, just kept cool. One sample per well is sufficient for screening.
  • To take a ditch, stream or tileĀ sample, collect 1 cup of water in a clean plastic or glass container and follow the same process used for well water.
  • If you would like to see how nitrate levels change throughout the growing season, take a sample now, and then every couple of weeks until Farmfest. Freeze all samples immediately and bring all samples to cool in the MAWRC booth. Be sure to label each sample clearly so you know when it was taken and where it was taken from.

“This is another tool available to farmers as they continue to make water quality improvements,” Formo said. “It’s quick, it’s easy and it’s practical.”

Farmfest is Aug. 4-6 at Gilfillan Estate near Redwood Falls.

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