Agricultural water is described as either production water or postharvest water. Production water is water used for activities during the growing cycle. Postharvest water is any water used during and after harvest, including washing, packing, and holding activities.

In January 2016, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule (PSR) went into effect. These regulations developed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) establish minimum standards for safe growing, harvesting, packing, and holding of fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption. In Kentucky, the Produce Safety Branch at the KY Department of Ag is our regulatory agency enforcing the PSR.

As of 2023, the water rule of FSMA is still under review by FDA. KHC is committed to helping produce growers safely produce food and comply with FSMA regulations. We have developed several resources for growers:

• Online Geographic Directory of Kentucky Laboratories
• Kentucky Laboratory Background Information and Resources

For more information about water testing, visit our “How-To” page.

The horticultural food production segment of Kentucky agriculture has an estimated market value of approximately $48 million. According to the 2019 USDA Agriculture Census, Kentucky has over 3,680 farms growing produce for fresh market sales on more than 9,500 acres. The Kentucky Department of Agriculture estimates more than 3,500+ operations sell directly to customers at farmers markets across the state.

Farm food safety plans are a critical tool for ensuring safe production of food crops and one component is managing the risk of transferring human health pathogens. Water management is a key component of an efficient and effective food safety plan. Testing agriculture water to assess risk associated with the water source is the first step of a water management plan.

Having access to convenient, affordable, reliable laboratories equipped to perform microbial detection in agriculture water samples is of high value to Kentucky’s produce growers. Understanding levels of generic E. coli, an indicator of fecal contamination, helps produce growers determine source water quality. Test values – expressed as colony forming units (CFU)/100 mL or most probable number (MPN)/100 mL – that estimate bacterial concentration are used to calculate the geometric mean (GM) and statistical threshold value (STV) to quantify risk of a water source. This information is used as a basis for management decisions.

Since 2019, the Kentucky Horticulture Council (KHC) has received funding from the National Farmers Union (NFU) as part of the Local Food Safety Collaborative (LFSC) to train Kentucky produce growers on food safety basics and sampling of agriculture water sources for production and post-harvest use. KHC and the project partners remain committed to helping Kentucky growers increase farm revenue by building capacity, ensuring regulation compliance, managing farm risk, and enabling access to new markets.  

Many resources were developed as part of this project, including the 2019 Pilot Project Summary.