Tag: Water treatment

How does testing your water save you money?

Water test

Before you dive into hydroponics one of the first things you should do is have your water source analyzed by a reputable lab. The water can be municipal, from a well or other source depending on your location. A quick internet search can be done to find a testing facility near you. They will provide you instructions for sending in your samples and tell you their cost for an analysis which normally ranges between $35-$55. If you are buying property, a water test can also help you decide if the property will work for your intentions, just like a farmer might get a soil test before buying farmland. Knowing if a water treatment system is needed before you get started can end up saving your crop and a lot of trouble in the long run especially in a closed or recirculating system.

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Are you looking for an economical, effective way to incorporate dissolved oxygen into your irrigation water?

Incorporating air or oxygen into irrigation water using nanobubbles can improve crop yields and reduce susceptibility to disease pathogens.

What started out as a way of making wastewater treatment systems more efficient with oxygen enrichment has expanded to how nanobubble aeration technology can improve production of agricultural crops. Moleaer Inc. in Torrance, Calif., filed a patent on nanobubble aeration technology in 2016 with the intention of using it as a way to deliver gas in a number of different applications.

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GAP-audited growers should have an easier time complying with food safety rules

Detroit-michigan-peppers-on-sale-at-eastern-market-a-large-farmers-cxp5bh-Michigan-State-University-Extension

Greenhouse and controlled environment agriculture growers who are participating in USDA’s GAP program are expected to have an easier time meeting Food Safety Modernization Act rules.

The burden of proving a grower is exempt from the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety Modernization Act’s rule falls squarely on the shoulders of the growers. Phil Tocco, food safety educator at Michigan State University Extension, said there are growers who will be exempt from meeting the Act’s rules.

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Water quality, treatments are focus of Cultivate’15 educational sessions

As pressure on fresh water supplies increases, more growers will look at recycling their water. Recycling water can add a whole range of challenges that growers may not have had to deal with before. Speakers at this year’s Cultivate’15 discussed some of the issues growers may face when recirculating and treating irrigation water.

 

By David Kuack

As drought conditions worsen along the West Coast and wildfires scorch many parts of the country, water continues to be on the minds of the public, government officials and water regulating agencies. Environmental disasters like the recent wastewater spill from an abandoned Colorado gold mine into the Animas River also add to the concerns about water availability and water safety.

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It’s time to become water-smart

As more growers look to install closed loop irrigation
systems, there is a need for treatment systems specifically tailored to handle
horticulture issues related to biofilm and disease control.

By David Kuack

 

The intense drought in California and continuing drought
in Texas along with their impact on the rising cost of food are making
government officials and the public painfully aware of the importance of having
and maintaining a reliable water supply. USA Today reports that California
produces nearly one-fifth of the United States’ entire agricultural output.
Should the state’s water woes continue the newspaper said farmers and
distributors may soon have to start looking for alternative locations to grow
or buy their crops.

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