Northern New York: (Lewis County and Willsboro, NY); May 27, 2025.  The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has published results of field trials demonstrating how farm-specific environments affect the value of forage crops as vital feed ingredients in dairy cow diets and milk production.

This proof-of-concept project has initiated a framework for developing a more efficient and cost-effective way to help dairy farms measure field crop performance to benefit milk production and farm economics. Data from the on-farm trials show the concept created by Cornell PRO-DAIRY Dairy Forage Systems Management Specialist Joe Lawrence to be viable. The complete Field Crop Performance Network project report is posted under About: Projects by Year 2024 at www.nnyagdev.org.

“This pilot project has begun the process of developing a system that will dairy farmers more efficiently utilize farm-grown forages by providing data that reflects growing environment impact on both plant performance and forage quality factors. The ultimate purpose is helping dairies understand the impact of the growing season on forage nutritional value and effectively balance their individual farms’ dairy cow diets for optimal milk production and farm sustainability,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence’s concept for a field crop performance network system suggests that collecting crop performance data from a small number of varieties of a crop at multiple locations could be as good or better and less costly in terms of time, labor, and expense than field trials of a larger number of varieties of that crop at fewer locations.

For this pilot project, field trials of two varieties each of corn, soybean, and alfalfa were established at two farms in Lewis County on the west side of New York’s six northernmost counties and in Willsboro on the east side.

Data collection included environmental measures of precipitation, growing degree days, pest and disease pressure, measures of crop performance, and economic impact predictions.

Corn silage and alfalfa silage forage samples were quality tested on a per-site basis. The Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System was used to develop balanced diets for lactating cows with the forages grown at each individual location.

Analysis Evaluates Forage Impact on Dairy Diet and Costs
Evaluating the impact of the forages from each trial location on the resulting dairy cow diets and milk production offered insight into how the growing environment affects the use of and value of the crops as feed ingredients in the dairy diet. The diets were 64.6 percent and 52.8 percent forage content for the western NNY and eastern NNY field sites, respectively.

A base diet established for a 1,600-pound Holstein cow with a goal of 97 pounds of milk production with a 4.25 percent fat and 3.2 percent protein content was compared to a diet formulated using the individual farms’ forage. Analysis for predicted milk production over the base diet showed an increase with the western NNY forage-based diet and a decrease with the diet formulated on the east side.

Milk production in pounds per dry matter was 97 pounds per cow for the western NNY location compared to 88.4 pounds per cow for the eastern side.

Lower nutritional value of the forages grown at the eastern NNY location influenced a higher total feed cost with lower milk production, in contrast to the western NNY site that achieved higher milk production at a lower total feed cost.

Income Over Feed Cost (IOFC) combines feed cost and milk production into one value and is an important metric to measure farm performance. The diet modeled for the western NNY location results in an additional $1.06 in income over total feed cost compared to the eastern NNY location. Lawrence notes, “This is a substantial difference highlighting that even the same crop genetics and best practices for growing the crop, the growing environment has a significant impact on the feed value of the crop.”

This project’s analysis of multiple parameters indicated opportunities to assess plant performance in tandem with forage quality measures. For example, Lawrence says, “One measured value of fiber or fiber digestibility only explains in part how a forage will perform in the dairy cow diet; evaluating multiple measurements, as well as environmental factors such as unusually high precipitation, allow for more precise understanding of how feed may be utilized by the cow.”

Lawrence now has an initial framework for developing a new way to enhance farmers’ ability to use farm-grown forage efficiently and to better understand when forage crop value to the dairy cow diet is constrained by the farm’s growing environment and conditions or by forage management practices.

The development of this field crop performance network continues with renewed funding from the NNYADP for trials in northern New York and New York Corn and Soybean Growers Association funding to expand the trials statewide. The University of Vermont is a project adjunct collaborator.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.  # # #

May 9, 2025.  The New York State Budget has been approved and includes $300,000 in funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP).

We thank NYS Assemblyman Billy Jones and NYS Assembly Agriculture Committee Chair Donna Lupardo for their leadership in securing this funding for the NNYADP. The funding will provide for critical on-farm research in support of the agricultural industry that is a major contributor to NNY’s economy and quality of life.

May 6, 2025.  The International Horti-Daily e-news reports news of interest to the global horticultural industry and today featured the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded project that evaluated the opportunity to manage swede midge in brassica vegetable crops with the use of ground barriers.

Photo: The placement of landscape fabric over ground impacted by swede midge in 2023 successfully reduced the pest’s population to only two counts above the NNYADP-funded trial’s economic threshold from April to October 2024. Photo: Elisabeth Hodgdon

Click here to see the Horti-Daily posting

Click here to read the full NNYADP 2024 report with swede management trial results

The Cornell Chronicle posted an article highlighting the greenhouse gas emissions reduction research conducted in cooperation with dairy farms in Northern New York and funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program and others. Below is an excerpt from the article at https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/04/sustainable-practices-new-york-dairy-farms-lower-emissions.

Click here to read the NNYADP report that summarizes this research: Linking Dairy Sustainability Metrics to Promote, Drive and Support Sustainability, NNYADP 2024 Project Results.

Excerpt from “With sustainable practices, New York dairy farms local emissions” by Caitlin Hayes of the Cornell Chronicle, April 28, 2025:
“Senior author Quirine Ketterings, director of the Nutrient Management Spear Program and professor of nutrient management in agricultural systems (CALS), said the lower footprint – and the research to calculate it – is the result of the farmers’ commitment to improving their emissions.

“’What is pretty unique with this dataset is the fact that these farms are all willing to participate,” Ketterings said. “There’s a shared interest in learning, in knowing, an interest in figuring out the next steps.'”

NNY On-Farm Trials Show Ground Barrier May Help Reduce Damage by Swede Midge

April 29, 2025; Antwerp, Cape Vincent, Essex, NY.  The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has announced the results of field trials producing the first commercial farm data and grower assessment of a new way to manage a destructive vegetable crops pest, the swede midge.

Swede midge is an invasive insect that causes significant economic damage in the brassica family of crops, including broccoli, kale, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. In 2024, Cornell Cooperative Extension Vegetable Specialists Elisabeth Hodgdon, Ph.D., and Christy Hoepting conducted on-farm field trials testing Hoepting’s theorized approach of using ground barriers over swede midge-infested soil to prevent the pest’s spring emergence.

“These Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-funded trials in 2024 produced the first season-long data and grower assessment of the use of a ground barrier for swede management. The data indicates that ground barriers can play a valuable role in suppressing the soilborne phase of swede midge, and may be especially useful for organic growers,” said Hoepting.

Growers participating in the trials at farms in Jefferson and Essex counties had experienced as much as 100 percent of crop loss to swede midge prior to the trials funded by the farmer-driven NNYADP.

Swede midge can be a season-long problem. The tiny fly lays eggs in the growing points of brassica vegetables. Larval feeding damages plants so they are unmarketable. The larvae overwinter in the soil to emerge the following spring and produce multiple generations until a killing frost.

Growers Appreciate Trial Results
At Chicory Hill Farm in Antwerp, silage tarp was deployed over ground where nearly 100 percent of the broccoli crop was lost to swede midge in 2023. In 2024, the tarp was applied from mid-April to July 22, 2024. No swede midge damage was recorded in June, but by fall damage was seen in cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and lacinato kale crops. Even so, farm owner Allen Funk said, “Even with the damage we saw in 2024, it was still less overall than that we experienced in 2023.”

Hodgdon notes, “It is not uncommon for swede midge traps to capture 100 to 200 midges per week. In 2024, trap captures in our field trials at all the participating farms did not exceed 50 midges.”

In 2023, swede midge damaged approximately 80-90 percent of the organically-grown kale crop at Riverside Farm in Cape Vincent. In 2024, the ground barrier trial there placed silage tarp over the past year’s infested kale bed from April into mid-July. Swede midge damage ranged from none in June to 32 percent in October with an increase of 44 percent mid-season in July.

“In the Cape Vincent trial, some of the kale plants appeared to have outgrown early swede damage, resulting in fewer symptoms in October versus July,” Hodgdon says.

For Riverside Farm owner Carly Basinger, “This trial showed us that using a ground barrier is one more practice we can use in an integrated pest management system.”

In Essex, organic vegetable producer Sara Kurak has battled swede midge for 10 years. In 2023, the pest damaged nearly 100 percent of the sprouting broccoli and approximately 10 percent of kale, mustard greens, and Brussels sprouts crops. From April to October 2024, Full and By Farm deployed landscape fabric over ground that had been infested with swede midge in 2023. Swede midge counts exceeded the established economic threshold of 7 males per week only twice. No crop damage was recorded in June, July, or the fall. The count peaked at only 8 percent in August.

“All three growers perceived the use of ground barriers as useful for managing swede midge as part of an integrated pest management program. In Essex, Sara also used floating row cover over most of her brassica crops to manage flea beetles during each crop cycle and so the impact of the ground barrier must be considered in tandem,” Hodgdon points out.

Research Now Expanding in NNY and Statewide in 2025
In Hoepting’s research, landscape fabric was slightly more effective than silage tarp for reducing swede midge damage, and, in trials measuring impact on swede midge emergence from soil following ground barriers application, landscape fabric resulted in greater suppression of midges versus silage tarp. This may explain the results at the Essex County farm that used landscape fabric versus the Jefferson County farms that used silage tarp.

With the foundation of the NNYADP project, Hoepting and Hodgdon secured new funding from the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program to continue the work with vegetable farms in Northern New York and expand on-farm demonstrations of the use of ground barriers for swede midge management statewide.

The complete report on the swede midge management research is posted as part of the NNYADP “Improving High Tunnel Production in Northern New York” report under About: Projects by Year 2024 at nnyagdev.org.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Assembly and administrated by the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets.