Northern New York Agricultural Research and Development Program Marks 60 Years Strong

Canton, New York: March 2, 2021.  The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has marked its 60th year of conducting practical and innovative agricultural research in support of New York’s diverse farming industry. The New York State Legislature created the program in 1961 in recognition of the opportunities and challenges unique to the state’s northernmost region. Funding for the NNYADP is supported by the New York State Legislature and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Recent areas of focus for NNYADP research include water quality conservation, local food hub development, and climate adaptability. The program’s history, research reports, and updates are posted at https://nnyagdev.org.

NNYADP Research Overview
The NNYADP has collaborated with the W. H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute on agricultural tile drainage research since 2010. Recent on-farm trials have provided new data for analysis of the factors and interactions that influence how nutrients travel across and through soil. This unprecedented agricultural water quality research is evolving best practices for farm-based environmental stewardship. It has included trials at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Lake Alice Wildlife Management Area.

Local food hub development research funded by the NNYADP since 2013 has helped provide northern New York an adaptable foundation in support of local food security during the pandemic. The opportunity to produce novel first fruits and fresh produce year-round under northern New York’s microclimate conditions and shorter growing season area the focus of NNYADP regional food projects including “super fruits” research and high tunnel production trials. Preparations have been made to add elderberry to NNYADP fruit research trials this spring.

To help train dairy workers, the NNYADP funded a project by Quality Milk Production Services, Canton, N.Y., to begin developing e-learning training for dairy farm milking parlor personnel.

Multiple states are now applying or testing the use of biocontrol nematodes for crop pest management, a protocol pioneered by Cornell University entomologist Elson Shields, Ph.D., on northern NY dairy farms with long-support from the NNYADP farmer committee. Nearly 28,000 acres in northern New York state are now protected by this “NNY-grown” biocontrol practice.

NNYADP research has supported the growth of the regional maple industry that was predicted in 2008 to have the potential to reach a $10 million per year value is now headed toward a $12-15 million annual impact.

Farming in NNY and the NNYADP
According to Census of Agriculture data, the northern New York agricultural sector involves significant numbers of young farmers, new, and beginning farmers; and female and small farm owners. The region has been an agricultural economy leader for the state, holding 23 first place rankings by agricultural commodity or total sales of agricultural products.

NNYADP founder Dr. Robert F. Lucey had a vision for developing the potential of the northern region of New York as an agricultural powerhouse for the state through practical and applied research. Today, approximately 100 farmers representing the diverse sectors of agricultural businesses in the region prioritize NNYADP projects for grant to conduct real-world research in support of the dairy, field crops, local foods, maple, honey, and livestock sectors.

The NNYADP serves as a major economic engine for St. Lawrence, Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, and Lewis counties. Jon Greenwood of Canton, Joe Giroux of Plattsburgh, and Jon Rulfs of Keeseville serve as Northern New York Agricultural Development Program Co-Chairs. More information is posted at https://nnyagdev.org.

Northern NY dairy and cash grain producers are assisting Cornell Nutrient Management Spear Program Director Quirine M. Ketterings, Ph.D., with NNYADP-funded research on the potential to use satellite and drone imagery to provide all farmers with access to yield estimates for zone-based field management efficiency.

Read the latest results here under Field Crops: https://nnyagdev.org/index.php/2020-nnyadp-projects.

New York Farm Bureau has posted a page to express support for the Northern NY Agricultural Development Program; scroll down at https://www.nyfb.org/engagements.

NNYADP Tile Drainage Research Results to be Presented During Virtual Crop Congress on Feb. 24

Chazy, New York; February 15, 2021. Unprecedented agricultural water quality research funded by the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) is producing significant insight into how nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen are transported across and through soil. On February 24, 2021, project leader Laura Klaiber, a nutrient management researcher at the Miner Institute in Chazy, New York, will present the latest three years of data during the 2021 North Country Crop Congress, held via Zoom (see registration contact below).

In her presentation on February 24, Klaiber will share key points from year-round, edge-of-field research trials that have captured field surface and tile drainage runoff with monitoring equipment on a farm in Keeseville, New York. Tile drainage is a critical practice used in crop fields with naturally poorly-drained soils, and in short growing season areas, to significantly enhance and stabilize crop quality and yield.

“The use of tile drainage has come under scrutiny as a potential source of excess nutrients in watersheds. Prior to this Northern New York Agricultural Development Program-supported study, little research had been specifically designed to compare the impacts of common agricultural drainage practices on regional water quality,” Klaiber said.

“Now, through the continuous year-round monitoring of nutrient movement in surface runoff and tile drainage in farm fields provided for these trials, we are able to generate data to inform field management practices that will help conserve our natural resources,” Klaiber added.

This northern New York-based research is showing that non-growing season, weather-related events play a critical and consistent role in nutrient transport; however, more data is needed before researchers can more accurately pinpoint how the interactions between weather and field conditions relate to runoff quantity and quality.

“These trials are precedent-setting with insights that can only be developed with long-term studies due to the high variability of runoff rates and nutrient concentrations that occur across events and on an annual basis,” Klaiber said.

Time and intensive study are required to isolate the diverse contributing factors and interactions that influence the biological uptake, release, and transport of agricultural nutrients through soil. The interaction of weather, cropping systems, field management, soil type and fertility, topography and other factors all impact nutrient retention or export from both surface and tile drainage.

“We are encouraged that the data show reductions in exported phosphorus and sediment. This can have important implications for the phosphorus-reduction efforts ongoing in the Lake Champlain Basin; however, this improvement must be considered in balance with the increased risk for nitrogen mobilization. Future research is needed to identify practices, or more likely suites of practices, that can improve both of these water quality parameters simultaneously,” Klaiber noted.

With each successive year of data analysis, the research team is evolving best practices related to manure, nutrient and crop management to help growers enhance production efficiency and farm-based environmental stewardship.

The NNYADP first began collaborating on this groundbreaking tile drainage-related water quality research in 2010. Water resource managers and farmers alike want to know more about the potential differences in soil erosion and the transport of nutrients from fields with and without tile drainage.

Project collaborators have included the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which provided land for trials at Lake Alice Wildlife Management Area in Chazy; the Lake Champlain Basin Program; SUNY Plattsburgh; the New England Institute of Water Pollution Control Commission; Champlain Valley Agronomics; River Bend Agricultural Engineering Services; and regional farms.

Klaiber has presented the results of this NNYADP-funded water quality research to agricultural and natural resource interest groups in New York, New England, and nationally through the annual joint meeting of the Soil Science Society of America, Crop Science Society of America, and American Society of Agronomy.

To register for the February 24, 2021 North Country Crop Congress, contact your local Cornell Cooperative Extension office or reach Cornell University Regional Field Crops Specialist Michael Hunter at 315-788-8450 or meh27@cornell.edu.

NNYADP tile drainage project results reports since 2010 are posted at https://nnyagdev.org/index.php/2020-nnyadp-projects.

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

Hay & Forage Grower magazine recently (2/9/2021) featured an article by Editor Mike Rankin titled “Meadow fescue a star in alfalfa mixtures” about the NNYADP-funded alfalfa-grass mix quality research led by Cornell University Professor Debbie J.R. Cherney.

Cherney’s 2020 project report is posted at https://nnyagdev.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NNYADPJan2021AlfGrassReportFINAL.pdf.

This April 2020 photo shows the fall 2019-seeded planting of an alfalfa-meadow fescue mix at Garden of Eden Farm in Philadelphia, New York.