2nd Annual Water Testing Challenge Announced

IL Corn and Illinois Soybean Association are teaming up again on another Water Testing Challenge. Through this effort, both corn and soybean checkoff programs hope to give Illinois FFA chapters the opportunity to learn, engage with farmers and win money for their chapter.

FFA chapters will develop and test hypotheses about nitrogen movement and potential loss from various production agricultural field settings. Participants will identify a minimum of 3 different locations with differing water sources and management styles at each site.

Once all the information has been collected, students will pick one (or more) of the locations tested and create a report explaining process, hypothesis, results and providing some best management practice recommendations moving forward.

“IL Corn & Illinois Soybean Association are thrilled to have the opportunity to teach IL FFA students about the IL Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy with this hands-on challenge. Learning how to identify possible problems and think through solutions will be invaluable for their future experiences. We’re excited to be able to offer this for a second year and donate to their chapters. We hope this program continues to grow annually,” said Megan Dwyer, Director of Conservation & Nutrient Stewardship.

Chapters or students will need to contact Megan Dwyer to register for the challenge and receive details. The sampling period is from March – October 13th and the submission deadline is 11-17-23.